As Wimbledon kicks off the third leg of the Grand Slam this week in London, Tournament Dir Jamie Baker said the “number one goal” each day of the tournament is “to finish the matches that we get on the schedule.” Appearing on “The Tennis Podcast,” Baker said the decision to alter a schedule is “quite a big thing” to do, any consideration of changes will be “driven by the information and the data that we have over multiple years.” Baker said the reason why Wimbledon kept the schedule the same this year is because there “isn't any evidence ... to show that the timings we have are an issue.” Baker’s comments come after Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray complained last year about matches starting at 1:30pm local time. Baker also indicated there has been a “gradual shift” in both “culture and mindset” for the club when it comes to using Centre Court’s retractable roof. He said that the roof it was initially meant as an “insurance policy against the rain,” but because of the “expectations of everybody involved in tennis and the nature of the business now, the size of the business, we need to have continuous tennis, really, as much as possible going on.” Baker also noted the organization is “hugely confident on the merits” of Wimbledon’s proposed expansion plans that include 38 grass tennis courts and an 8,000-seat show court, but the actual decision “doesn’t sit with us” currently (“The Tennis Podcast,” Acast, 6/30).
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