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It’s traditional. of course. Wimbledon begins, or tries to, and it rains. It is doubtful whether the British public, if they don’t travel overseas, know quite how bad their climate is. Flasks of hot tea, rather than ice-cold drinks, are often required - in midsummer- , and it must be dreadfully disappointing for those who might have waited for years to get a Centre Court ticket and for the big day to arrive, only for them to have to sit there for hours in the rain. Still, they enjoy the occasion and atmosphere, even if they don’t manage to enjoy much tennis.

Now, of course, for the first time in 85 years, they can’t even shelter under the roof. There isn’t one. Everyone knew it would look different, but even so the change is enormous and dramatic. Centre Court is completely, unquestionably, unrecognisable. Frankly, it looks dreadful when it’s empty, rather like a large, soulless American stadium, although less so when it is filled with people. Next year, though, a roof will be back in place, and a year after that no rain will be able to fall on the cherished lawn because the retractable part of the roof will be in place. That year, of course, will see uninterrupted sunshine throughout The Championships.

Martina Hingis almost lost in the first round, again. There was the Jelena Dokic year, 1999, after her Roland Garros meltdown against Steffi Graf, and there was another defeat at the hands of Virginia Ruano Pascual in 2001. Losing in the first round to Steffi Graf in 1995 in her rookie year doesn’t count.

She had to hold off two match points on her own serve at 5-4 in the second set against Naomi Cavaday, the world number 232, total career earnings $33,089. Whoof. But there was a reason for it, kind of. Martina hasn’t played for ages, since Berlin in mid-May which isn’t much in days but it’s a lot in tennis terms. She’s been injured and only started hitting again last Friday.

“It's an inflammation in the femur bone,” she explained. “Usually it takes six to eight weeks, but I'm like, I don't want to miss out on Wimbledon no matter what happens. I was happy the doctor told me I can't make it worse. So it's about me taking the responsibility how far I want to take it. I'm trying to do everything possible. I have help from a lot of people, doing a lot of stretching, a lot of rehab, practice as much as I can.”

Roger Federer said that of course he was worried before his first match. He broke with tradition this year by not playing Halle. Usually it’s the same routine - win Halle, win Wimbledon. John McEnroe thought it might have been a mistake for Federer to change a winning formula, but of course the champ had his reasons.

“Look, for me, my body was hurting after the French, after the clay court season. What do you want me to say? I'm not going to go start risking injury, risking my body. I'd rather play Wimbledon than maybe play Halle, lose there, and not play Wimbledon at a hundred percent. I had to take a tough call. I'm not superstitious like other players are. That's why I can take decisions like that.”

That seems fair enough.