Wet weather causes woes at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England -- Rain washed out the entire day's play at Wimbledon on Wednesday, causing a backlog that could force organizers to schedule matches on the middle Sunday for only the third time in tournament history.

After a wait of nearly seven hours, All England Club chief executive Christopher Gorringe announced shortly before 7 p.m. that all play had been called off -- the first complete Wimbledon washout in five years.

Earlier, tournament officials postponed 29 second-round matches and announced play would start an hour earlier Thursday, at 11 a.m. on outside courts and noon on Centre and Court 1 -- weather permitting.

Only 83 of the scheduled 128 singles matches were completed on the opening two days, the fewest on the first Monday and Tuesday since 1991.

With none of the 74 matches to be played or completed Wednesday, this marks the worst start to the tournament in 13 years, when only 46 matches were completed in the first three days.

-- AP