Federer will be celebrated at Wimbledon; Serena declined invite

WIMBLEDON, England — Roger Federer will be back on Centre Court at Wimbledon on Tuesday. No, not to compete: He’ll be feted for his record-setting career at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.

Federer, who announced his retirement last year, won eight of his 20 Grand Slam singles championships at the All England Club, the most ever by a man — a mark that Novak Djokovic will try to equal this year.

Martina Navratilova set the overall standard by claiming nine women’s singles titles at Wimbledon.

“Pleased to say that Roger will be with us tomorrow, and we will have a special celebratory moment on Centre Court before play starts, just to honor him as the man holding the most Gentleman’s Singles titles here at Wimbledon,” All England Club chairman Sally Bolton said Monday, the first day of action at the two-week event.

“We’ll have a moment just to celebrate his achievements and to say thank you, I think, for us, certainly, for all the memories,” Bolton said.

She said that Serena Williams, who won seven of her 23 major singles trophies at Wimbledon, was invited, too, “but … she’s pregnant, so understandably couldn’t travel.”

Williams also retired after last season.

“(We) of course wish her lots of luck with the remainder of her pregnancy and we hope maybe we might see her next year,” Bolton said.

After the rain came down and the Centre Court roof was closed, groundskeepers at Wimbledon brought out the leaf blowers.

Several workers using the hand-held machines paced up and down the hallowed grass in the All England Club’s main stadium to dry the ground from the sudden shower that disrupted play on all courts.

Novak Djokovic, the defending champion who was playing Pedro Cachin in the stadium at the time the rain started, clapped when he saw the workers emerge with their leaf blowers. He had been trying to dry the grass on his own, waving his white towel over some spots that seemed to be particularly soaked.

Djokovic joked with a fan who playfully waved a towel to help: “Yes, blow, blow. Blow the air. We need everybody’s help.”

The delay lasted more than an hour, with Djokovic in the lead after winning the first set 6-3. The roof, installed over Centre Court in 2009, was reopened before play resumed.