Unconvincing Murray struggles to raise the roof at All England Club

Sliding a roof over Centre Court and Andy Murray's head does not just keep the rain out. The mischievous might suggest that the All England Club has installed a £100 million (Dh593 million) inconvenience for Murray's hopes of ever winning the Wimbledon Championships, as when the roof comes across it creates an alternative grass-court universe in which he does not immediately look at ease with himself and his game. Had Daniel Gimeno-Traver's mind and forehand lasted for more than a couple of sets, this could have got messy on the floodlit grass. If everything goes with the seedings, Murray will play Majorca's Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals next Friday, yet on the opening evening of the fortnight, he did not have everything his own way against the Spanish No 11, who has only ever won two matches on lawn. For a set and three quarters, nothing was going against Gimeno-Traver, as the world No 59 from Valencia was running a lawnmower through everyone's pre-match predictions. In the end, Murray won the last 15 games for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 victory, but those two bagel sets should not obscure what had come before. An hour and a bit into this match, life looked a little hellish for Murray in the All England Club's Eden Project, and it was by no means certain that his tournament would survive the night. Expensive sunshade Ever since the roof was finished for the 2009 fortnight, it has had two primary uses; as an expensive sunshade for the Royal Box, and as a means of complicating Murray's games. Only two full matches have been played indoors on Centre Court, both have been Murray's, and on each occasion he has suffered some difficulties, as a couple of summers ago he had to come from a set down to beat Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka in five sets in the fourth round. When Wimbledon goes indoors, the feel and the acoustics of Centre Court change, and the increased humidity makes the balls so heavy that it becomes arguably the slowest stadium at the slams, slower even than the clay of Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros. "The conditions are certainly different. It's only the second match of my life that I've played on an indoor grass court," said Murray, who does not know the identity of his next opponent as there is not a roof over Court Six and Germany's Tobias Kamke and Slovenia's Blaz Kavcic could not complete their match. In theory, playing under a roof should suit Murray, as many of his titles have come indoors, but playing inside on grass takes some getting used to. From Gulfnews.