“Rain, rain, go away, come again another day!” This familiar nursery rhyme has become an anthem for many tennis players at Wimbledon this year. Imagine the frustration. Players are geared up, mentally and physically prepared for their matches, only to have their plans washed away by the relentless downpour. With rain playing spoilsport, the grass-court Grand Slam in London is turning into a waiting game for stars like Danielle Collins, Ben Shelton, and Christopher Eubanks.

Wednesday morning rain has delayed the start of second-round action at Wimbledon, where play on uncovered courts is currently suspended until at least 12:15 PM local time (BST). In fact for certain players, even the first-round game is impacted and they are yet to receive any update on their fate moving forward. One such name in the list is the American tennis star Danielle Collins. 

Danielle Collins is playing her last Wimbledon and has been in sensational form this season. She started her Wimbledon campaign on a similar tone and beat Denmark’s Clara Tauson in the first set 6-3. With the second set being a tie at 4-4, what hampered the fate of the match was rain. Scheduled to get over on July 2nd, the match was suspended until Wednesday, July 3rd. But only to Collins’ dismay, the match has failed to resume with rain continuing to pour on the outer courts. The situation is no different for Ben Shelton, who is forced to play without any breaks. 

Ben Shelton started his campaign on Monday. Despite the seemingly bad weather and delays in the morning, the play had originally started at 1:30 pm on Center Court as planned. But shortly before 3:30 pm, the rain finally hit, causing a second delay. Those playing on outside courts had to halt their racquets and Shelton was one of them. The World No.14, who would be eyeing to perform better than last year when he was ousted in the second round, had to continue his match the next day. Despite a hard-fought five-set victory over Mattia Bellucci (4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4) this year, he faces another match in the second round on Wednesday with no rest. Meanwhile, the fate of Christopher Eubanks is even more worrisome. 

Christopher Eubanks was initially scheduled to play his Round 1 match on Tuesday. However, continuous rain delays made it difficult for the match to even start. Now with the contest between Eubanks and Quentin Halys postponed to Wednesday, the final time of match resumption is still a confusion due to the heavy downpour. These situations have made the tennis community compare Wimbledon with the French Open.

Several took to the microblogging platform to express that a situation that wouldn’t have impacted Roland Garros matches even a bit, has made it difficult for players to even practice on grass. However, regardless of the weather, the action will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Centre Court and 1:00 p.m. on No. 1 Court, due to both stadiums being fitted with retractable roofs. Meanwhile, rain has not just impacted the players.

Continuous rain leads to a small mishap in Wimbledon

In situations where rain or other weather conditions play a spoilsport, the major role that is played is by the support staff and the crew members. Similar was the scene in Wimbledon where ball kids and ground staff gave their cent percent to ensure that the play could be continued as soon as the rain halts.  However, a small mishap took place on the green surface that became slippery due to the continuous rain.

The rain worsened around midday before the decision was made to suspend play on the outside courts. This led to a mad rush on the court with the ball kids running around to cover the grass to hold away as much rain as possible. Amid the chaos, one ball kid on Court 15, where Billy Harris was facing Jaume Munar took a tumble and fell on the ground. Fortunately, not much was sustained by the kid who was seen quickly getting up and running to continue his chore.

As the tournament progresses, it will be interesting to see if the rain gods will offer some relief to the tennis players and fans or will more matches continue to be impacted.