WIMBLEDON, England - At last, Wimbledon's Centre Court is getting a roof.
The All England Club on Tuesday announced plans for a sliding roof to end the rain delays that have become synonymous with the Grand Slam event.
The club still needs to get planning permission, and work won't start for at least two years; the roof won't be in place until 2009.
Covering Centre Court probably won't help the tournament as a whole. If it rains, the other 19 courts can't be used.
HOPMAN CUP: Lindsay Davenport began her comeback from foot surgery with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Barbora Strycova, leading the defending champion United States to a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic in Perth, Australia.
QATAR OPEN: Top-ranked Andy Roddick opened his season by beating Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-4 in the first round in Doha. Wimbledon runner-up Mark Philippoussis and fifth-seeded Nicolas Massu lost.
TATA OPEN: Top-seeded Carlos Moya moved into the second round in Madras, India, with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Noam Okun. Defending champion Paradon Srichaphan also advanced.
GOLD COAST: Top-seeded Ai Sugiyama beat Emile Loit 6-3, 6-2 in the second round at the Australian women's hardcourt championships. Magdalena Maleeva and Magui Serna advanced.
DRUG SUSPENSION: The ATP suspended Mariano Puerta for nine months for failing a drug test at a tournament in February.
ABN AMRO: Roger Federer, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Lleyton Hewitt are scheduled to play in next month's tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
WINTER SPORTS: Three-time winners
Olympic skier Carl Swenson and Rebecca Dussault won their third national titles in a row at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Rumford, Maine.
SKI JUMP: Sigurd Pettersen became the first Norwegian in 10 years to win the Four Hills tournament with a victory in the final event in Bischofshofen, Austria.
CROSS-COUNTRY: Tobias Angerer of Germany won the men's 2x15-kilometer skiathlon in a mass sprint, and Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic won the women's 2x7.5-kilometer in World Cup races in Falun, Sweden.
SNOWBOARDING: Dejan Kosir of Slovenia and Jagna Kolasinska-Marczulajtis of Poland won World Cup parallel slaloms in Bad Gastein, Austria.
AUTOS: Cheever adds team
Super sub Alex Barron and rookie Ed Carpenter will drive this year for Red Bull Cheever Racing, which is expanding to a two-car team in the IRL. It could grow to three cars if team owner Eddie Cheever decides to drive.
FOOTBALL: Women recruiting
The Tampa Bay Terminators of the Independent Women's Football League will have tryouts Saturday and Jan. 17 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Gulfport Recreation Center, 5730 Shore Blvd. S.
The Terminators kick off their eight-game schedule April 3 against the Jacksonville Dixie Blues at Osceola High School. The team, which wears the orange-and-white colors formerly used by the Buccaneers, finished 3-3 last season, second in the South Atlantic division. The tryout fee is $100.
OBITUARY: Charles Dumas, the first athlete to high jump 7 feet and a gold medal winner at the 1956 Olympics, died of cancer Monday in Inglewood, Calif. He was 66.
SOCCER: The U.S. women's team, including Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Abby Wambach, will begin preparing for the Olympics on Monday at U.S. Soccer's training center in Carson, Calif.
POWER LIST: George Bodenheimer, president of Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN and ABC Sports, was named the most powerful person in sports by the Sporting News.
