Wimbledon is no match for the rain

WIMBLEDON, England -- Wimbledon organizers scheduled play on the middle Sunday for only the third time in the tournament's 127-year history as rain washed out all matches for the second time this week.

A steady drizzle delayed the start of play at 11:15 a.m. and continued all afternoon. Organizers waited until 6:35 p.m. to call off all matches.

Earlier, All England Club chief executive Christopher Gorringe announced that play will be held today -- traditionally a rest day in the two-week championships -- to reduce the backlog.

The last time that happened was in 1997, after no matches were played on the Thursday and Friday of the first week because of rain. The only other time matches were held on the middle Sunday was in 1991.

"Ultimately it's the club that makes the decision, but obviously we need to work with a lot of key people like the police and like the local authority," Gorringe said. "It's obviously a huge inconvenience for a lot of people."

Rain delayed play on Monday and Tuesday, and all matches were wiped out Wednesday in the first Wimbledon washout since 1997.

Today, a total of 28,000 tickets -- 11,000 for Centre Court, 10,000 for Court 1 and 7,000 for the outside courts -- will be on sale at the gates on a first-come, first-served basis. Play is scheduled to begin on all courts this morning.

"We know the neighbors are not keen on us playing on the middle Sunday," Gorringe said. "We realize we live in a residential area. This is something which we ... have never wanted to do, but we're having to do it in order to try to conclude the championships on schedule, which is our main aim."