Wimbledon reveal roof plan

Wimbledon unveiled their revolutionary new plan to beat the British weather today by using a retractable roof to cover the Centre Court that could cost more than £100million to install.

The All England Club refused to go into details about the final price of the cover for the most famous court in tennis but revealed they will not be going cap in hand to the Government for cash.

The entire project to build the translucent roof will be funded by revenue generated from the existing 2,300 debenture holders on Centre Court.

Despite taking on this enormous expenditure, Tim Phillips, the All England chairman, insisted British tennis would still receive its annual windfall of nearly £30m from the Championships.

He said: "There will be no public money involved from the lottery or the Government and our plans will not affect the surplus we give to British tennis. Our debentures are the main source of revenue and that will fund the project."

Wimbledon are confident of avoiding the kind of financial problems that have afflicted the Welsh Rugby Union who still owe £60m following the construction of the Millennium Stadium, which also has a sliding roof.

Phillips believes the move will gain the support of the players who will have to wait until 2009 to experience grass -court tennis under a closed roof.

The Australian Open, which starts in two weeks, is the only grand slam event that has a retractable roof. Both of the Melbourne tournament's main show courts have sliding roofs but they are not "see through."

This new technology will enable the grass to continue growing even when the roof is closed against the Wimbledon rain.