“I was sitting here with Bernie Ecclestone, we were watching Goran Ivanisevic playing on No. 1 Court and there were three rain breaks,” Tiriac said upon receiving the Lawn Tennis Writer’s International Award, in association with Barclays.
“He said, ‘How much do you think Wimbledon makes?’ I said, ‘Maybe 50, 60 [million]’.
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“He said, ‘We should buy it out, £600m, you and me. We can get a roof on the court in two months’.”
Ecclestone told Telegraph Sport it was “100 per cent” a true story, adding: “At the time, we were looking to try and take over the ATP and run the tennis.
Ecclestone and Tiriac were watching Goran Ivanisevic when they discussed a bid
“Ion is a very good friend of mine. He used to run a lot more tennis tournaments than anybody. That’s how it all happened.
“We were very serious. I don’t think in the end we made any sort of offer. We were looking to see if it was possible and how we would do it.
“Until we got everything lined up properly, we couldn’t make a bid. We needed to make sure all the other people were on board.”