WET WEATHER POLICY
All visitors to The Championships are reminded that play can be suspended at ANY time due to rain.
Covering of the courts
The courts are covered on the Referee's decision. The sooner the courts are covered the less time is needed for them to dry out and for play to resume. Occasionally, if the advice from the Met Office is such, the courts may be covered before the rain arrives. In the interests of the public, play is resumed as soon as possible.
The Centre Court roof has been designed to close in under 10 minutes and if it is being closed for rain, court covers will protect the grass in the usual way while closure is in progress. After the roof has been closed, play can resume within 20-30 minutes, depending on climatic conditions.
Warm-up
Players are officially entitled to 15 minutes from the time the match is called to the time they are due on court. According to the rules, no warm-up is allowed if the delay is 15 minutes or less. If the delay is 15-30 minutes, a three minute warm-up is allowed and if the delay is 30 minutes or more a five minute warm-up is allowed.
Cancellation of play due to rain
Details of the Raincheck policy introduced in 2001 are as follows and apply to all 13 scheduled days of The Championships, including the final Sunday.
- If there is less than one hour's play because of rain on the court for which tickets have been bought, the original purchasers of the tickets for that court on that day will be refunded with the amount which they paid for those tickets — the maximum refund payable will be the face value of the tickets for the day concerned.
- Purchasers of Ground Admission passes at the turnstiles (except those purchased after 5.00pm) will be eligible for a full refund if, due to rain, the average amount of play on those courts accessible with a ground pass and for which play was originally scheduled is less than one hour.
- If there is more than one hour's play, but less than two hours' play, refunds will be limited to half the amount paid.
- The Referee's decision on how much play has taken place will be final.
- Only the original purchasers are eligible for refunds under this policy. Refunds will be paid out automatically for tickets bought in advance, but tickets bought at the Club's turnstiles (prior to 5.00pm only) should be returned without delay to: The Ticket Office, The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, “Raincheck”, PO Box 98, London SW19 5AE.
- In view of the numbers that could be involved, please do not call at the Club's Ticket Office or telephone the Club.
- Tickets purchased at the Ticket Resale kiosk are not covered by this policy as the monies are passed to charity.
- Separate terms and conditions apply a) to Debenture Holders as notified by The All England Lawn Tennis Ground plc (Debenture holders wet weather information) and b) to any extra days of play.
In the event of any curtailment or cancellation of play, due to any cause (other than negligence of the Club) other than rain, it is regretted that no refund of money can be made.
Changes to the match schedule
We do try to play all matches on the courts and days published. However, occasionally it is necessary to switch a match from one court to another. this can be for a number of reasons. For example:
- We aim to complete The Championships on time and this involves playing 662 matches, in the 14 events, over the 13 days of the tournament.
- Some players remain involved in several events towards the end of The Championships and it may be necessary to move a match to avoid a clash.
- We try to give similar rest periods between matches for players due to play each other.
- A match which is unlikely to finish because of a late start caused by the duration of previous matches may be postponed to the following day. In this event another match may be substituted.
We recognise that this may be frustrating for spectators and we apologise for the rare occasions when circumstances necessitate a change to the published Order of Play. We hope you will appreciate why such changes have been made.
