By James Borg

Published Wednesday, June 24, 2009 | 5:15 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, June 24, 2009 | 5:16 p.m.

LONDON - With the weather here still outdoing the south of France, the Wimbledon officials chose to repeat what they did Tuesday -- close the roof a little to protect those lucky occupants of the Royal Box.

Wasn't this multimillion pound -- three years in the making -- break from tradition supposed to be for precipitation? Some people here are already dubbing it “the world's most expensive sunshade.”

Opening match on Centre Court featured Maria Sharapova, who won here in 2004 (defeating Serena Williams) at the age of just 17. Returning from injury after a 10 month lay-off due to an operation on her serving shoulder, she declared early on in the week that she had no expectations of her normal performance at this year's tournament. But that didn't ring true as this 22-year-old Russian does not give up easily.

She was up against top Argentine Gisela Dulko, who is ranked No. 45 in the world. Her claims to fame so far: she once dated Spanish player Fernando Verdasco and the males can't keep their eyes off her. Serena Williams had said earlier on in the week after some criticism of female players and their attire: "Sex sells." Well, it seemed to be doing a roaring trade here with Sharapova and Dulko on the same court playing each other.

Shoulder surgery or not, the feeling was that the Russian ex-Wimbledon champion would come through. In just under an hour, the woman from Buenos Aires was one set and 3-0 up. With Sharapova, you get thrills and spills — and th irritating shrieking and grunting too. But her fighting qualities turned the 3-0 deficit into a winning set at 6-3, to level the match.

In the seventh game of the third set Dulko broke to love to lead 4-3. We now had the makings of a thriller. Despite some stunning tennis from Sharapova, Dulko held serve for 5-3. Sharapova played a great service game for 5-4 but her opponent was now serving for the match. At 30-15 to Dulko, an appeal via Hawk Eye by Sharapova on a suspect forehand was to no avail. At 40-15 Dulko had two match points. On the second match point a spectacular drop by the Russian brought the score to deuce. Another match point; another deuce.

We had a thriller on our hands. Then a Hawk Eye appeal by Sharapova went against her again giving Dulko her fifth match point. A determined and gutsy effort by the Russian culminated in a rally in which she just fired too long giving the Argentine the scalp of Sharapova with her 6-2 3-6 6-4 win and an opportunity to finally come out of the shadows.

Sharapova's analysis after the match: "It's a little too late to start picking yourself up when you're down a set and 3-0. You know it's a little late."

Over on Court Number One, Serena Williams was playing the Austrian player Jarmila Groth. The expectation was one of taking care of routine business. The scoreline of 6-2 6-1 chimes with her comments after the match: “I knew she was going to be tough, so I was like, ‘OK I have to be ready for the match.’”

Roger Federer played his second round match against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez from Spain. He managed to take just five games from Federer the last time they played (Indian Wells in 2008). The 26-year-old managed just eight games this time as Federer stormed his way into the third round with a 6-2 6-2 6-4 win. Garcia-Lopez was sporting enough to manage a smile at the net at the end of the match. Federer celebrated with both arms raised high like a prizefighter.

James Borg, a freelance journalist and award-winning author, has covered the All-England Lawn Tennis Championships for three decades. He lived briefly in Las Vegas and worked at Caesars Palace. He lives in London.