HEAVY rain showers at Wimbledon this morning ahead of Ladies’ Final Day – and a whole lot more.
A few optimistic – or is it pessimistic? – souls are already camped out in Wimbledon Park in case rain delays lead to play on Monday.
Today’s all-Williams final is on Centre Court at 2pm and the weather forecast is for the rain to clear.
The covers have come off since the photos (below) were taken around 8.30am.
Venus and Serena are then due to return later in the day to play their ladies’ doubles final.
Fans who have tickets for Court 1 have a real bonus – Britain’s Laura Robson, 14, in her Girls’ Final against third seed Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, 16, of Thailand.
I watched Stockport’s Naomi Broady, 18, come close to beating Noppa – as we shall call her – in the quarter finals.
Having also seen the British wildcard in action, I can’t see any reason why Laura can’t win the title, so long as she copes with the bigger stage.
As for the main event of the day, Serena is favourite to win, though many in the press room believe Venus will successfully defend her crown.
Last night Rafael Nadal came into the press conference room after his semi final win against Germany’s Rainer Schuettler.
Naturally, he was 15 minutes late.
Rafa plays Roger Federer tomorrow in the dream Wimbledon final most observers wanted to see.
Federer is going for an Open-era record sixth consecutive men’s singles title.
The No 2 seed has lost to the Swiss maestro in the last two finals here.
I asked him what it would mean to him to win the title on Sunday.
“For me, for sure if I win here probably going to be one of the most important wins in my career, no?
“But I don’t want to speak about win,” he said.
“I only want to speak about I have to play the final.
“I have to play my best tennis if I want chances for win this final.
“Later if I am here on Sunday with the title, well, you can ask me what I feel.”
Asked if Federer was the greatest ever grass court player, he referred to the seven Wimbledon titles won by Pete Sampras.
“I think for me he’s the best of the history.
“I don’t know if he’s the best on grass because Sampras has seven, no?
“He has five – hopefully not six this year.”
Wylie’s Wimbledon