More on the roof at Wimbledon

Follow up to the post from last week: here is some audio from NPR about the 'grand' opening event.

Here come the Roofs

Yes, that's roofs, plural. The French Tennis Federation determined the architect for roof over Phillipe Chatrier, aka Centre Court. The roof will be in place by 2011.

Wimbledon, as you know, has their sparkling invention in place and it will be unveiled this weekend officially with a charity match. BBC has video here and here. While I'm still skeptical it will move the tournament along at the pace they want, the key (obviously) is the the gem matches will not be delayed and won't disrupt television schedules, etc.

This leaves the U.S Open as the only Grand Slam event without a lid on it. Given the loud, rowdy crowds at the Open and it's assorted ubiquitous qualities (night play, flight patterns into LaGuardia airport, etc.) I'm quite fine with that. Let it be.

Checking in on Hawk-Eye

Hawk-Eye is without a doubt the biggest innovation in tennis since the graphite racket. And since we're at the sharp end of the Australian Open, I thought I'd check in on the folks at Hawk-Eye headquarters in the UK.

Turns out their sister company Pulse is getting some serious media attention for their interactive matchday product (conveniently called "Pulse")...you can play the Australian summer Cricket game now, for free: Pulse Live.

Pulse will return for this year's U.S. Tennis Open, no doubt. From last year's U.S. Open file:
Pulse provides fans with a live and truly interactive experience of the tournament by giving users the opportunity to express their opinion, track player and tournament progress, improve their tennis knowledge and best of all predict the game-by-game outcome of the match.

Tennis fans get pretty animated when discussing their favorite pros, so you'll be seeing more of Pulse on tournament sites and mobile devices once they get the UI tweaked and some more engaging graphics.

Down Under

The heat has been the big topic down in Melborne at the Australian Open this week. On courts temps pushing 125 degrees and higher are ridiculous, but having played in 90+ degree air temps with humidity quite often as a youngster, I don't have a lot of sympathy. None the less, it's given the announcing crews lots of fodder during down times to discuss the roof on Laver Arena, and you don't have to be an expert to see that the Laver is showing its age.

As retractable roofs go, its seen its day and served Melborne well but now looks like an old roll-top desk compared to modern facilities. We'll see what the new design holds, but the covered 'village square' and entertainment options between Court Arena and Laver Arena are essential and this rendering makes it looke like they're going to get it right by creating a true tennis village. I'll post more pics and video as I find them.