‘England are ready for this, we can
First sight of £70m refurbishment as stars get ready for tournament
THIS is the first look at Wimbledon’s Court One as it prepares for the installation of its new retractable roof.
Phase one of a three-year, £70 million refurbishment project has now been completed ahead of the Championships, which begin in two weeks.
More complex in size and scale than the Centre Court project, the work by contractor Sir Robert McAlpine has seen two parts of the stadium’s circular covering removed to make way for the new roof, which will be completed by 2019 as part of a Wimbledon Master Plan to upgrade the home of tennis.
The roof is designed to be closed in 10 minutes when rain starts to fall, minimising hold-ups for spectators. It will also allow play to continue on both main show courts until the 11pm deadline without fear of losing light.
An additional 900 seats will be fitted taking capacity to 12,400, a two-level public plaza will open next year, catering areas and hospitality facilities will be improved, and a giant new TV screen will be built near “Murray Mount”.
A spokesman for Wimbledon said building the new No 1 Court roof was like “constructing four bridges then adding 11 bridges on top, which move along their own railway”.
Wimbledon will join the US and Australian Opens in having the capability for indoor tennis on two courts. The French Open aims to have a roof over Court
Philippe Chatrier by 2019. ENGLAND women’s cricket star Jenny Gunn says the “best team” she has played with are “ready to win” the World Cup.
The 31-year-old, who is set to appear in the team’s first match of the tournament against India in Derby tomorrow, said the squad were desperate to lift the trophy at the final at Lord’s next month.
On the upcoming match, she said: “[It won’t be] as much competition as England v Australia. But every team is a rival we are ready to take on. We take it really seriously.
“We want to win a World Cup. The past two or three years have been leading up to this. I think we can do it, this is the best team I have been involved with. It is a good mix of youth and experience.”
The all-rounder, who plays for Warwickshire, said the 2014 move to professional women’s cricket had “made a huge difference” and would lead to increased interest in the sport.
“It means now that cricket is our main focus, we are not concentrating on other jobs. Also, people seeing us as professionals always helps.”
Women’s cricket was “massively” more high-profile than ever. She said: “People are promoting it, but it is because we’re successful.
“We go into schools to work with girls to show they can do this for a living. For us it is new. But for them, they won’t know any different.” Gunn is the