After the deluge, just more rain

FOR MOST of a dismally wet Day Four here, Jerome Golmard, of France, sat in the players' lounge waiting for the call to action.

The 23-year-old from Dijon was due to play Tim Henman in the second round of the singles competition, but, given the match was pencilled in as the third of the day for centre court, it was obvious early on that he would never get to use his racket.

It was, however, his previous trade that attracted those members of the media with an interest in self-preservation to the world number 94. He used to be a carpenter, and the way things are going around these parts, there might be a need to start putting together another ark in the not too distant future.

Aside from ensuring that yesterday became only the 28th day in the history of these championships to be washed out entirely, the latest bout of rainfall kept this month within striking distance of becoming the wettest since records began in Britain.

A new mark could easily be set over the next few days with the weather expected to remain poor until at least Sunday. With that in mind, tournament officials were starting to face the realities of a radical rescheduling operation. They also, for the first time openly, conceded the possibility that the tournament may not finish on time.

Asked how bad things looked in the immediate future, the tournament referee, Alan Mills, remarked yesterday: "As far as we can see into it, it's five days of not too hopeful weather. There isn't one day when it says that we're going to have a fine, clear, warm sunny day.

The event is, he pointed out, still ahead of schedule compared to 1991 when, with the first round of the men's singles still being played on day six, play spilled into the middle Sunday. Nearly twice as many matches have, in fact, been played this week as had been at the same stage that year. But with 34 first round singles matches, 28 of them in the women's event, still to be decided and a lot of rain expected over the next few days, things could, it is admitted, still become a good deal worse.

"Well, the main difference is that that year the forecast for the Sunday was a good one. There are a lot of factors involved in deciding to play on Sunday, and parties, such as the police and council need to be consulted," said Mills.

"It would be a little bit silly, though, for us to open up everything, let people come along and then have another day like today. So the idea of coming in that day simply remains one of the many options which are open to us.

A couple of the options already taken include cutting the men's doubles matches to three sets, at least as far as the quarter-finals, and persevering with the earlier starts each day. But if the rain continues these will have little effect.

In that case, cutting back the length of singles matches may start to be considered, although "basically", says Mills with a resigned smile, "we can always simply stay here until we get the thing finished.

It may not just be one carpenter we need here, folks, it may be a fully-fledged escape committee.