• Ticket site Viagogo says prices have soared to record levels
• The top price is 71,000 a pair but expected to rise
National expectations are not the only thing subject to rampant inflation due to Andy Murray's run to his second successive Wimbledon final, with resale websites asking upwards of £70,000 for a pair of tickets.
Viagogo, one of several high-profile ticket resale sites that have concerned the All England Lawn Tennis Club by providing a conduit for sales banned by its terms and conditions, said prices had soared to record levels as Murray stood on the verge of history.
The AELTC's chief executive, Richard Lewis, said this week that demand for tickets had broken all records, with officials having to stop new people joining the queue earlier than ever before.
Prices had soared by 412% overnight, Viagogo said, and expected the asking price to soar higher still. "At the moment, the top price of a pair of tickets stands at £71,000 but we expect to see this ceiling smashed ahead of Sunday's final," the Viagogo director Ed Parkinson said.
The situation regarding touting is complicated at Wimbledon by the fact that debenture holders are allowed to resell their seats while ordinary ticket holders are forbidden from doing so.
The latest batch of five-year centre court debentures, released in 2011, saw 2,500 buyers paying £27,750 each for the privilege of a guaranteed seat on every day of the Championships and access to a special lounge.
Viagogo claims that all the tickets available through its website are advertised by debenture holders, but the AELTC said it had this week stopped several spectators from entering the grounds after they bought tickets from the site.
Viagogo said it was "perfectly legal" to resell Wimbledon tickets in the UK and that all tickets sold through the site came with a guarantee. Nor does the All England Club's continuing battle against the resale of tickets seem to have deterred the lines of old-fashioned touts who line the main approaches along Wimbledon Park Road and Wimbledon Hill Road.
A spokesman said there were no current plans to clarify the rules regarding the closure of the Centre Court roof after Andy Murray furiously questioned the decision of the referee, Andrew Jarrett, to do so during his victory over Jerzy Janowicz. But the spokesman pointed out that if the fourth set had taken as long as the three previous sets in Murray's match it would have been impossible to finish in daylight.
The decision remains at the discretion of the referee, who takes into account the fact that Wimbledon is supposed to remain an "outdoor, daylight" tournament in character but seek to bring the roof over with "minimum disruption" to the players.
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