When rain saved the day

Sometimes the rain god plays umpire and saves a game for one side, while ruining it for another. With Wimbledon starting tomorrow, we do a round-up

DONALD Bradman, the Australian with a near-perfect batting average, was a notoriously disinterested batsman on wet wickets, inexplicable for many during the period of uncovered wickets. One day, an accomplished billiards player of the time mustered up the courage to ask Bradman why he never made the effort. "Would you play on a torn billiards table top?" asked the then Aussie captain.

The tale is recounted by cricket historian Vasant Raiji, who remembered that Bradman refused to practice for something that "he said just happens once in a while. Many critics therefore consider Victor Trumper a better batsman for his steadiness on a sticky pitch," said Raiji.

As Mumbai waits for that moment, for the onset of monsoon, for those glorious drops to soak the heat and wet the earth, sportsmen across the world would be unable to decide whether they love the rain or hate it. For rain breaks have made or marred matches, turned possible winners to losers, turned joyous contentment to frustration and certain wins to irreversible losses. Obvious victims have been outdoor sports, particularly cricket and tennis at the Wimbledon where rain is as synonymous with the championships as strawberries and cream.

On Monday, Roger Federer would begin his campaign to overtake Pete Sampras's 14 Grand Slam titles at this year's Wimbledon, fresh from a French Open win which seemed doomed at one point in the final when the ominous umbrellas came out in the stands. Having won the first set, and into the second, as it started drizzling, Federer fans wondered if the rain would break his rhythm and hold over the match. Tense moments passed before the rain gave way, as did Robin Soderling.



But this year, Federer would have less to worry about as Wimbledon organisers have negated the romance of traditional downpours by errecting a retractable roof over Centre Court, which has both its supporters and detractors.

One man who would look at the roof and shed a lonely tear would be Tim Henman. The Brit with repressed emotions carried the hopes of a nation year after year in an attempt to become the first local lad to win the title since Fred Perry in 1936. His best chance came in 2001, in the semi-final against Goran Ivanisevic. The unseeded Croat, playing with a shoulder that worked more from will than tendons, was down trailing 5-7, 7-6, 6-0 with Henman playing like a dream, when it rained.

When play resumed the next day, Ivanisevic took the fourth set and after five games in the fifth, it rained again. By the next resumption, the match into its third day, Henman's momentum was lost and so was his best opportunity as Ivanisevic took the last two sets 7-6, 6-3.

"God wanted me to win this game so he sent the rain," Ivanisevic said later, before he went on to win the championship, which he had lost thrice in the finals before.

In England, but in another era, God wanted to rescue the Indian cricket team, so he sent the rain. Former captain Ajit Wadekar recalled the famous 1971 series when chasing 420 for a win in the second Test at Old Trafford, Manchester, India was 65-3 at close of play on the fourth day.

"As we sat that evening with a beer," remembered Wadekar, "I told Ray Illingworth (rival captain) that it might rain tomorrow. There was not a single cloud in the sky."

"'It won't,' he insisted. 'Perhaps, I said, you never know'," Wadekar chuckled.

The fifth day's play was washed out and India went on to win the final Test at the Oval, with V Chandrashekar taking six wickets on you guessed it a moist track.

In another instance, Wadekar remembers New Zealand captain Graham Dowling himself "mopping the pitch" so that the match would resume in Hyderabad in 1969-70. India chasing 268, were 76-7, when they were rescued by a downpour.

One of the worst affected matches at Wimbledon was the third round contest between Rafael Nadal and Robin Soderling in 2007. It took five days to complete, interrupted by eight rain delays. Over 92 hours elapsed between the start and the end of this match, eventually won, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 4-6, 7-5 by Nadal. Sports Illustrated described the players as "marching mindlessly between court and locker room like Buckingham Palace guards".

English fans, for all their patience to sit through rain breaks with their Pimms and pies, have suffered as much as they have rejoiced in these breaks. Visiting competitors have always traveled to England with a hope and a prayer, willing the clouds whenever the chips were down.

If matches are saved, they are lost too. India lost by a run, chasing Sri Lanka's 302 in a one-dayer at Premadasa in Colombo in 1997. "It rained for about 45 minutes," said Mohammed Azharuddin, who scored an unbeaten 111 in the match. "The ground was wet, the ball became slippery and we lost wickets early. Despite our world record at that time (Ajay Jadeja made 119), we could not make it," said the former captain, adding that the important thing to do during the break was to keep the mood light in the dressing room.

Azharuddin further explained that rain used to play a role even in the selection of players from the local Moin-ud-Daula tournament, jokingly referred to by local players as 'rain-ud-daula'. "The fewer matches you get to play, the more difficult it was to impress selectors."

The cries of nature have frustrated officialdom enough to take quick measures. Apart from the game's ritual of the umpires offering "light" to the batting side, an option to continue or not under gloomy conditions by deeming the visual elements too poor, there have been other measures taken: Whether it is the roof over Centre Court or the controversial Duckworth and Lewis method in cricket.

The system, declared simple despite a complicated system of calculating a team's resources and then compensating one side, struck India in the 1992 World Cup. Chasing Australia's 237, rain interrupted India's pursuit in the 16th over. D&L stepped in, gave them one run less to chase, but in 47 overs. "We already had a slow start," said the then wicketkeeper Kiran More. "We could have won had we got the full quota, but lost by a run."

Even history has witnessed change in fortunes due to the Rain Gods. In the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, when Napoleon Bonaparte delayed his attack due to rain, he allowed the Prussians enough time to regroup. Napolean suffered a crushing defeat on the fields of Waterloo, just as sportsmen have over the years lost battles of a less military kind.

Matches are won and lost due to breaks but there is a silver lining to these clouds as well. It only depends which side you are on.

2008
Rafael Nadal bt Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7
The match many consider the best ever on Centre Court, when Nadal dethroned Federer as the king of the Wimbledon grass. Contested over five sets, four hours and 48 minutes, Nadal was up by two sets when rain hit. After play resumed following a 70-minute delay, the five-time champion won the third and fourth sets on tie-breaks. Another rain break with the match delicately poised at 2-2 and deuce. The two players resumed the longest-ever men's final at Wimbledon before Nadal collapsed to the grass in victory.

Rainer Schuettler bt Arnaud Clement 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (9-7), 8-6
Five sets. Five hours. Two days. Sixty-one games. The match between Schuettler and Clement got under way just before 7 pm because of rain delay. By the time night fell, Schuettler and Clement had shared the first two sets. The following day's sets went to two tie-breaks and beyond 6-6 in the decider. As the fifth set flowed, play was twice suspended due to rain, at 4-4 then on deuce at 6-6. The German though lost in the semi-final to Rafael Nadal.

1996
Pete Sampras vs Richard Krajicek: Result Irrelevant
This rain delay lasted only 30 minutes with the scores level at 2-2 but is one of the most famous. Cliff Richard in the audience grabbed a microphone and led a sing-a-long of his hits, including Bachelor Boy and Congratulations. His only support was the backing vocals of tennis players Virginia Wade, Martina Navratilova, Pam Shriver and Conchita Martinez. The Telegraph named the event "Cliffstock" and reported that "numerous fans of Sir Cliff were left dewy-eyed by the experience". The Independent described it as "the finest British performance on Wimbledon quarter-finals day since the teeny-boppers saw their beloved Bjorn Borg succumb to Roger Taylor in 1973".