Murray’s treatment is in contrast to that afforded to home national Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open, who has not been off the main Rod Laver Arena since before 2001 — a total of 37 consecutive matches.
Retired British star Greg Rusedski was among those who said Murray should have been allowed to play on Centre Court again.
He tweeted: “A real shame Murray wasn’t on Centre Court, a little mistake from organiser. Need to give him every advantage possible.”
Matches were today starting an hour earlier at noon in an effort to deal with the pile-up, but with forecasters predicting drizzle increasing to heavy rain by the afternoon many fans faced spending much of the day huddled under umbrellas.
Official figures released by the Met Office have revealed Britain had double the average rainfall for June. The only break in the wet weather will be occasional sunny spells on Thursday and Friday.
In April, the Environment Agency warned more than half of England was officially in drought. Since then, downpours have left parts of the country floods.
Michael and Carole Middleton were guests in the Royal Box today along with opera singer Katherine Jenkins, Harry Potter star Rupert Grint and Olympic gold medalist Denise Lewis.
