Wet Wimbledon fans carry on camping

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Bedraggled but unbowed by the awful British weather, more than a hundred hardy souls were camped out in lashing rain in the hope of landing precious Wimbledon Centre Court tickets for Thursday.

A neat row of around 100 tents were lined up in soggy Wimbledon Park, where tennis lovers had pitched up early Wednesday to camp overnight for the 500 Centre Court tickets available on the day.

As another downpour swept across the park beside the All England Club, Magalan Pather contemplated how to fix a leaky tent.

"Unless you are sports nutter or have some tennis passion you might think this is very stupid," he said.

The South African maths teacher, who lives in Helsinki, had flown in with his family in the hope of catching tennis legend Roger Federer in action.

Their luggage was outside their two tents under a rain poncho, the London Gatwick Airport tags still on the bags.

"We did this two years ago and the weather was so nice," the 45-year-old said.

With his wife Kasturie, daughter Kaylin, 14, and son Nikhil, seven, they have given up their rented self-catering apartment in London to camp out.

"Very nice place; it's got two double beds, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a lounge, television," he recounted.

"And a warm, dry bed!" his wife shouted from inside the dry tent.

"We tried to put some newspaper in the leaky one. When the rain stops we can do some damage control. If the worst comes to the worst we can all go in one tent," Pather said.

They have Ludo, cards, wordsearches, a ball and a book on the Middle East conflict to keep themselves going until the morning.

"If they put Federer, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams on Centre Court again, that will make our day," he said.

A few tents along, 38-year-old Helen Storey surveyed Wednesday's washed-out scene from under a pink polka dot umbrella.

"Most people here are hardcore," said the team manager from Norwich, eastern England.

"We're prepared for anything. We've got the ponchos, the suncream, outfits to last for days, we'll be fine. We've got plenty of Pimm's to drink and strawberries to keep us going.

"At least we will see some tennis whatever happens. That's what makes it worthwhile.

"If we can guarantee being in the first 500 we'll stay another night."

"Ah! Happiness!" muses a chirpy passing steward from under a giant Wimbledon umbrella.

Katie Curran, a 36-year-old nurse, said she wasn't a regular camper.

"I normally do all-inclusive in Cuba. It's no different here, other than it's about 100 degrees cooler and there's torrential downpours," she said from inside her tent.

Nicolo Comotti, a 22-year-old student from Italy took advantage of a break in the clouds to pop outside for a smoke.

"We're here for Federer. He's one of those sportsmen that happens once in a lifetime. He is the best player in history, so it's worth it. Free camping and watching Federer.

"Passing the time is a problem. We came here incredibly unprepared. We've got sleeping bags, the cheapest tent available, and a ham and cheese sandwich," he said, before dashing for cover as the rain returned.

Pather said it was better to camp out and get a guaranteed Centre Court seat rather than a regular ground access pass, where if you leave your seats, you have to wait again.

"I wouldn't join the day queue," he said. "I'm not that stupid."