Matches on Wimbledon's famous Centre Court could now continue until as late as 2200 BST this year after All-England club officials admitted the arena's new retractable roof means there is now no cut-off time to finish each day's play.

After two years of construction work, the roof will be available for use at the Championships for the first time when the tournament gets under way on June 22.

Winning at Wimbledon has always been as much a test of coping with delays caused by the notoriously bad English weather as skill on the grass courts.

But the roof, which is fitted with floodlights, will allow matches on the show court to be finished in one go and Wimbledon bosses have been given the go-ahead by local officials to play as long as reasonably necessary.

"We could finish after 10 o'clock in the evening," Tim Phillips, the Wimbledon chairman, said. "The scheduling will still be the same as an outdoor day time event, but there is no absolute cut-off time.

"The players will have to come off court when the roof closes. Ideally that would be at the end of a set rather than 8-8 in the final set. It's difficult to forecast all the circumstances that could arise, so we won't talk about a last time a match could finish.

"We will try to make a judgement call. Sometimes you won't get it right but we'll try to most of the time. I think we've all got a feeling of quiet confidence. If it gets to 22-22 in the final set it could go a bit pear-shaped!"

The concertina-style roof, made of a translucent water-proof fabric, will take between eight and 10 minutes to close and a further 20-30 minutes for the air management system to create the correct conditions to ensure the grass doesn't become dangerously slippery in the more humid 'indoor' climate.

It will be used in public for the first time at a test event on May 17. Former Wimbledon champions Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf will join retired British number one Tim Henman and Belgium's Kim Clijsters, also retired, for mixed doubles and men's singles and women's singles matches played entirely under the roof.

While the roof takes Wimbledon into the 21st century, there are still complaints from players about the courts, with many saying the pace of the game at Wimbledon has slowed too much in recent years.

Phillips insists that instead of moaning, players should follow the example of reigning Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal, who adapted his natural clay style to the slicker lawns of south-west London and claimed a thrilling win over Roger Federer in last year's final.

"We hear what the players are saying. But it is a great test of tennis as we saw in the men's final last year," Phillips said. "I think it reflects enormous credit on Rafa for the way he has adapted his game to grass. One or two others in the past have tended to cop out.

"They would get a large number of points on clay and disregard grass. Rafa has shown if you can play on clay you can play on any other surface."

Phillips also ruled out the possibility of changing the surface from grass courts to hard-courts, in line with so many tournaments, including the grand slams in Australia and the United States.

"The game is lawn tennis. We have got the inclination, the time and the resources to prepare the grass properly. I think it is extremely important we remember our heritage and support grass," he said.

"Players are complaining about wear and tear on hard courts and there are already a load of tournaments on clay."