It's safe to say there never will be another Wimbledon championship match quite like last year's epic produced by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Not because of the supremely high quality of play or the dramatic 9-7 fifth set or the record 4 hours, 48 minutes of playing time - those will be tough to replicate, certainly, but could happen again.
What won't be the same? The finish in near-darkness, thanks in part to rain that delayed the start of the 2008 final, then interrupted play twice. Those days are gone, because Centre Court at the All England Club is now fitted with a retractable roof, ready to be used when the tournament begins June 22.
"It's going to make a big difference,'' said the No. 3-ranked Andy Murray, Britain's best hope for its first male Wimbledon champion since the 1930s. "For fans and TV and stuff, it's the best, and also, I guess, for scheduling.''
Ah, yes, scheduling. This is, lest we forget, the Grand Slam tennis tournament whose official record book, "Wimbledon Compendium,'' contains several pages devoted to cataloguing the history of rain during past fortnights.
There are headings such as "Days which have been completely rained off'' and "First weeks badly interrupted by rain,'' as well as, simply, "Weather,'' a year-by-year recitation of what Mother Nature had in store for each tournament dating to 1922.
In that sense, rain delays are as much a part of the fabric of Wimbledon as grass courts, strawberries and cream, and the scheduled day of rest on the middle Sunday. And so, in a way, the addition of the roof represents something of - and, really, only the latest example of - a break with tradition at the All England Club.
Of all the recent changes - eliminating the obligatory curtsy, adding video review of line calls, matching up the prize money for men and women, etc. - nothing will have as real an effect on the way Wimbledon is run as Centre Court's new look.
"You can construct an argument that says anytime you change anything, that's a change with tradition. I think our fundamentals are very clear: playing on grass, white clothing, no advertising. I think, equally, if you are in the global-event industry, you need to look to modernize and to bring things forward,'' Ian Ritchie, the All England Club's chief executive, said in a telephone interview. "That's what we've consistently done at Wimbledon over the last few years.''
The renovation of Centre Court, a building originally constructed in the 1920s, included the addition of 1,200 seats, raising capacity to 15,000.
The two-piece roof is translucent, so natural sunlight passes through, and there are also light fixtures that turn on when the stadium is closed. It takes about 10 minutes to open or shut the roof, which passed its tests during a dry run of exhibition matches on May 17 with Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Tim Henman and Kim Clijsters.
Everyone seemed to come away suitably impressed, and 1992 Wimbledon champion Agassi called the new setup "an environment that lends itself to some spectacular tennis.''
"All the players are excited to see how it's going to really work,'' said Federer, whose streak of five consecutive Wimbledon titles ended with his loss to Nadal a year ago.
Some, such as two-time Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick, point out that only a handful of players will benefit from the roof, because it covers just one court. Still, there will be no more days entirely washed out, no more interminable delays, and far less time-filling by television broadcasters.
"It's progress. They've seen a lot of replays on the BBC and on EuroSport of old matches, when we're sitting in the locker room playing cards for a day and a half. At least they're going to have tennis all the way through,'' U.S. player James Blake said. "I haven't seen it. I haven't been there. But I'm sure, knowing Wimbledon, they did it the right way, they did an exceptional job, and it'll be first-rate.''
Wimbledon isn't alone: The Australian Open started the trend, with retractable roofs over its two main courts and plans to cover a third, too. The French Open intends to have a roof over its center court by 2011, and could also put roofs on courts that are part of a planned extension of Roland Garros.
The U.S. Tennis Association, meanwhile, has talked to its Grand Slam counterparts about their projects. Both U.S. Open singles finals were postponed last year because of a tropical storm.
"We haven't settled on a design, nor do we have a specific timetable,'' USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said. "There is a process in place. We are actively investigating retractable roof concepts.''
Proposals were submitted to the USTA by 10 architectural firms; that group has been narrowed in half.
While the U.S. Open already has an evening session, Wimbledon doesn't plan to put its new roof to work for that purpose. But being able to play after the sun descends is a novelty for a tournament that doesn't have lights on its courts.
"We're not going to put a nighttime session together. We're not putting more matches on the Centre Court than we did last year. We're not going to start any later. Our intention is still to try and finish in daytime,'' the All England Club's Ritchie said. "But if we get to a stage where a match has gone to 2-all and it's 9 o'clock at night, instead of coming back the next day, our intention would be to close the roof and finish the match. And if that takes to 10 o'clock, so be it. If it takes to 10:30, so be it.''
There is no set limit on how late play could carry on, Ritchie said, and once the roof is closed during a match, it will remain closed until that match ends.
He remembers well the situation a year ago, when Federer and Nadal played on and on and on. If the match hadn't concluded when it did, at 9:15 p.m., the players probably would have been sent home and told to return the next day.
"It created a fantastic drama and an atmosphere,'' Ritchie said. "The roof brings its own drama, as well. Last year ... won't be repeated in a similar vein. But I still think we'll have some great tennis.''
Federer was irked that the 2008 Wimbledon final ended in low visibility. Now that Centre Court has a roof, no one needs to deal with those conditions again.
"It's just good to have the option,'' Federer said, adding: "We all hope that it's not going to rain.''
Sure, Roger.
