Stealth attack looms for Wimbledon night play (Wimbledon Diary)

LONDON - Profit-minded Wimbledon officials are laying the groundwork for future night matches at the hallowed home of grass, driven by the lure of a massive increase in television income.

Andy Murray’s Monday win which ended at 10:30 p.m. to start the week opened the floodgates, with the new roof and lights put to the test. And now, officials are rolling back the vow that the event is “daytime-only”.

The payoff: Up a reported $10 million additional television income for the richest event on the calendar.

“It could go on all night, there is no limit or cut-off,” a spokesman said of future matches. “We will play to the finish - whatever time that may be.”

And club boss Ian Ritchie also did a massive 180 degree turn as he spun the concept of grass tennis after dark.

A day earlier, he told London media: “I quite like it being a day event. The advantage of having a roof is if there is one match that is behind schedule, you can finish them.”

The master balancer then switched sides dramatically as Wimbledon loses its identity as a unique event and morphs into just another big-budget “tennisathon” like the US and Australian Opens.

“The mantra is that it’s an outdoor summer event, and we’ve been blessed with sunshine, but if the circumstances dictate, that’s what [the roof] is there for,” London media reported.

Matches in New York and Melbourne regularly end after midnight with the record a pre-dawn wrapup by Lleyton Hewitt in 2008 against Marcos Baghdatis. Murray has complained heavily that the grass plays completely differently with the roof closed.

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Pubs prepare for bonanza at Wimbledon after-dark

Managements of Wimbledon’s genteel pubs were salivating at the prospect of profits as the local council gave the go-ahead for top taxpayer Wimbledon to play tennis anytime of the day or night.

London media said the Merton council which governs the area of the All England club had no objection to post-midnight match finishes and would duly license drinking dens to stay open for the 15,000-plus punters.

Nearly 20,000 flowed through the tree-lined streets of the SW19 suburb after Andy Murray’s last finish against Stanislas Wawrinka after 10:30 pm on Monday. But from 2010 that scene could become commonplace.

BBC figures show that a near-record 12.6 million viewers at least dropped in the Murray match via their sets. The all-time best was 13.1 for the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal 2008 final.

Huge American television money is also in the mix, with midnight in London equating nicely to the start of prime time on the New York-Washington east coast, when ad rates are the highest.