Tennis: Washed out Wimbledon organisers set up rain fund

LONDON - Organisers of Wimbledon have £2 million pounds ($NZ5.4 million) in reserve to cover rain disruptions after the cost of insuring themselves against the British weather became too steep, it was revealed today.

A Championships Ticket Refunds Reserve has been set up by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) -- the governing body of British tennis and joint organisers of the grasscourt grand slam -- members were told at their Annual General Meeting.

The reserve will be used to refund spectators who see less than an hour's play due to poor weather at the All England Club.

"It is no longer an economic proposition to take out an insurance policy against rain delays," the LTA's treasurer Derek Howorth told members at London's historic Queen's Club.

"The committee ... has therefore decided to self-insure this risk. As this is a risk to the surplus (amount of cash the LTA receives as proceeds from the tournament) in individual years, it is effectively an LTA risk and we decided to set up this specific reserve."

Wimbledon is a major money-spinner for the governing body of British tennis -- in 2004, the LTA received £26.84 million pounds from the tournament.

However, organisers took a major hit in the pocket at this year's event as two days were washed out.

Organisers were not covered by insurance for this payout, the LTA said, as they had stopped insuring against the weather two years ago.

"In the past we had taken out insurance against the cost of rain cancellations," LTA president Charles Trippe told reporters.

"But the premiums for this had been steadily rising ... and the excess had gone up to a very high level. The real killer was that insurers did lose out on a couple of years.

"So, we've decided not to insure."

Trippe said it was impossible to estimate what the average cost of covering for rain at the event would be.

"It could be nothing, it could be two million pounds," he said.

Wimbledon revamped its ticket refund policy in 2001. Fans can claim a full refund of the ticket's face value if there is less than one hour's play because of rain on the court for which tickets have been bought.

Ticket holders are also eligible for a half refund if there is more than one hour's play, but less than two hours' play.

In January the All England Club announced it was to build a retractable roof over Centre Court.

After years of rejecting the idea, the club's management committee finally agreed it was necessary to shield the most famous venue in tennis from London's rain to satisfy the demands of television.

Construction on Centre Court is expected to begin in 2006 and a translucent roof should be in place for the 2009 championships.

- REUTERS