Met Office predicts ‘frustrating few hours’ for players and fans at Wimbledon

The Met Office has predicted a “frustrating few hours” for players and spectators at Wimbledon after rain suspended play on outdoor courts.

Showers descended on SW19 just before 3pm on Tuesday, and the forecasting body predicted intermittent rainfall until 6pm.

Met Office meteorologist Craig Snell told the PA news agency that the tournament may take advantage of dry spells in between the bouts of wet weather.

He said: “For the next few hours or so you can expect on and off rain really.

“Wimbledon might just get lucky and get maybe half an hour or so before the rain will come back, but it might be more frequent than that.

“They may well get a little bit of play between now and then, but I think it’s going to be a frustrating few hours and then hopefully a bit better later.”

He added: “Hopefully as we go into the evening period, the rest of the play shouldn’t get interrupted too much.”

Roofs were closed on Centre Court and Court One, temporarily halting quarter-finals matches between Iga Swiatek and Elina Svitolina and Jessica Pegula and Marketa Vondrousova.