Wimbledon hosts Sunday play

By Caroline Cheese
BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Sunday's order of play Latest Wimbledon weather

Wimbledon will open its doors on the middle Sunday for only the third time in its history after persistent rain prevented any play on Saturday.

All England Club chief executive Chris Gorringe confirmed the news in an announcement on Centre Court.

Thousands are expected to queue for 'People's Sunday', the highlight of which will be Tim Henman's encounter with Hicham Arazi.

According to the Met Office forecast, there is a 40% chance of rain on Sunday.

Gorringe annnounced that there will be a reduced ground capacity as a security measure, with 11,000 tickets available for Centre Court at £35 each.

A further 10,000 people will be allowed onto Court One (£30) and 7000 into the grounds (£15).

Play will start at 1100 BST and tournament referee Alan Mills is hoping to complete all the singles third-round matches by the end of Sunday.

PEOPLE'S SUNDAY Gates open at 0900 BST Play starts at 1100 BST on all courts One northerly queue from Southfields tube station 11,000 Centre Court tickets (£35) 10,000 Court One tickets (£30) 7000 ground passes (£15) Payment by cash only Coverage on BBC2 from 1210 BST Interactive coverage from 1100 BST

There are 12 third-round matches outstanding in the men's singles and 10 in the women's, along with countless doubles matches.

Mills admitted there is a chance the tournament will not be concluded by next Sunday.

"With no play Saturday we are 120 matches behind," he said.

"If we don't play this Sunday I think you'll find some of the women will have played Monday to Thursday with one day off between the semi-final and final.

"In this sort of championship that's asking too much. Most of the women play doubles, then there would be no chance of them finishing by the last Sunday."

The tournament was already behind schedule after no play was possible on Wednesday, only the 31st time in Wimbledon history that a day was completely washed out.

Play was due to start on Saturday at 1115 BST, but constant drizzle meant it was eventually abandoned at 1840 BST.

British fans did manage to catch sight of Henman on Saturday morning, as the British number one carried through the All England Club grounds.

Terrible weather forced play on the middle Sunday for the first time in 1991 and again six years later.

Classic matches: Henman v Haarhuis

Henman was involved in the 1997 'People's Sunday', winning 14-12 in the fifth set of a memorable encounter with Paul Haarhuis.

Despite its popularity on those two occasions, Gorringe insisted there are no plans to make the day a permanent fixture in the SW19 calendar.

"Having a middle Sunday is not popular with the local neighbourhood because of parking restrictions," said the All England Club chief executive.

"People also like a day's rest and it is good to give the courts a break."