US Open still not sold on the need for a roof

AUTHORITIES have defended their decision to carry on staging the US Open without the benefit of a covered court even as rain on Sunday postponed the men's final for the third year in a row.

The rain forced world No 1 Rafa Nadal, seeking to become the seventh man to complete a career grand slam, and Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic to wait until last night to contest the last Grand Slam final of the year.

Both the Australian Open and Wimbledon championships have retractable roofs to deal with dodgy weather and French Open officials have discussed the possibility.

"It's technically complex and financially challenging," said United States Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier. "At a cost of more than $150 million, do you spend that on a roof or continue to fund grassroots tennis programs in this country?"

Widmaier said $100 million had been spent on improvements at the Flushing Meadows complex in the last five years, with the biggest expense being a new indoor training centre. With American tennis going through its leanest ever spell - no American men have made it to the last eight in New York for the past two years - there is competing pressures for the USTA's funds. Widmaier said money from the US Open was funneled into player development, grants and scholarships and to improving tennis facilities around the country, which included providing help to resurface 1,100 courts across the United States.

He added that USTA president Lucy Garvin is heading a committee that will be make recommendations to the tennis association on future improvements to the Billie-Jean King National Tennis Center complex and some options being looked at included covering smaller courts at less expense.

The tournament's second court, Louis Armstrong Stadium, seats 10,500 compared to 23,771 at Arthur Ashe Stadium - the largest tennis arena in the world.

Over the years long, frustrating rain delays became as synonymous with Wimbledon as strawberries and cream and in 2009 the 80 million retractable roof over Centre Court was put into action.

Ironically, since then Wimbledon has been blessed with near perfect conditions and the roof has only been used for two matches and only then because of failing light rather than rain.

Four-time US Open champion John McEnroe, now a TV commentator, said last year he had lobbied USTA officials from the start to put a roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium when it was built to replace Louis Armstrong Stadium in 1997 as the tournament's main stage.

"It seemed like a no-brainer but people at the USTA decided

they wanted to build the biggest (stadium)," McEnroe said about the Ashe centre court."But at the same price they could've had a slightly smaller stadium and had a roof."

Rain began falling less than two hours before Sunday's final was due to begin, forcing a halt to the women's doubles final that was nearing completion in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

About three and a half hours later, with no end in sight to the downpour, tournament officials decided to abandon play and reschedule the men's final for 9pm BST last night.

"Due to the continued uncertainty of the weather forecast for the remainder of the evening, and with the desire to be fair to the players and to our fans, the US Open men's single championship will be postponed until Monday," tournament organisers said in a statement.

Two years ago Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray on the third Monday and it was a similar story last year when Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro overcame the Swiss in five sets.

More than 20,000 people who had tickets for Sunday's match were forced to make a retreat while the delay stalled Nadal's bid to capture the one grand slam title that has eluded him. Victory in New York would see Nadal become just the seventh man to win all four Grand Slams.