On the seventh day it finally rained, just a little. It was the moment everyone at Wimbledon had been waiting for. And when the ground staff rushed on with the covers, they were greeted not with the customary groans but with the delight shown by stockmen in the Australian bush when the heavens finally open after a five-year dry.

At 4.39pm the great moment came. The roof silently began to move over Centre Court.