Tennis-Leaf-blowers to the rescue at slippery Wimbledon

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 3, 2023 Groundstaff use leaf blowers to dry the court as the first round match between Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Argentina’s Pedro Cachin is suspended due to rain REUTERS/Andrew Couldridge

LONDON (Reuters) - Frustrated fans were left wondering quite what was the point of Wimbledon's 80 million-pound ($101 million) Centre Court roof on Monday when Novak Djokovic's match was delayed for over an hour as ball boys took to using leaf-blowers to dry the grass.

Defending champion Djokovic had just taken the first set 6-3 against Argentina's Pedro Cachin when light rain took the players off and led to the roof being slid into place - a process that takes 10 minutes.