Wimbledon organisers face a dash to clear a backlog of tennis matches after persistent rain washed out huge chunks of the tournament.
It comes as the All England Club says it will be handing out more than £250,000 in refunds after much of the Championships was rained off on Tuesday.
There was no play on the outside courts until 5pm and 75 of the 91 scheduled matches were cancelled.
Some 12 matches were carried over as showers deluged the grounds throughout the day.
Thousands of the £25 grounds pass and £50 Court Two ticketholders – who were among the 34,922 attending – will be entitled to the costly refunds.
A rain cover on one of the All England Club’s outdoor show courts. Wimbledon organisers are in a dash to clear a backlog of matches after persistent rain delays have pushed the schedule back
Ground staff pull rain covers over outdoor courts on Tuesday as another spell of rain stopped play
Tennis fans hold green and purple Wimbledon umbrellas as they try to stay dry amid the gdownpours
Grey clouds gather above the open roof of No 1 Court as a singles match is underway
Spectators with umbrellas wait in the stands as play is suspended due to rain
Fans left in a puddle as rain floods much of the stands on an outdoor court
Now organisers, players and fans will be hoping that yesterday’s weather sticks around – and help to clear the backlog – after the sun finally broke through the clouds with temperatures reaching 23C (73F) in SW19.
Announcing its plan for refunds, the Club said: ‘Ticket holders who purchased a No 2 Show Court ticket or a Grounds Pass before 5pm on Tuesday, July 9 are eligible for a full refund due to the rain delays and the resulting cancellation of matches.’
However, it added that the automatic refunds may take until the end of the month to clear because of the huge amounts involved.
‘Due to the large volumes of refunds this will take some time to process but we anticipate conclusion by the end of this month.
‘We thank all ticket holders affected for their patience and understanding,’ the Club added. It is thought the number of eligible tickets will be in the region of some 7,500 amounting to more than a quarter of million pounds in refunds.
Visitors to the All England Club shelter under umbrellas as they walk around the grounds
A miserable looking fan braves the wet weather at the All England Club
Fans on Henman Hill hold umbrellas as the dreary weather on Tuesday showed few signs of letting up
Officials have been scrambling to clear a backlog of matches after the much of the tournament has been blighted by wet weather which has seen almost 200 games of tennis cancelled.
Play on the outside courts was brought forward by one hour to 10.30am yesterday in an effort to catch up.
The backlog has seen the first rounds of the Mixed Doubles severely delayed forcing the Club to push back the mixed finals to Sunday, with the Ladies Doubles finals on Saturday.
The Met Office said that more than a month’s rain – 52.6mm – had fallen in the first nine days of the championships, including 5.6mm recorded at nearby Kew Gardens on Tuesday.