Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov has said his initial reaction to protesters invading Wimbledon’s Court 18 while he was playing was to remove them himself.
The 32-year-old, whose match against Sho Shimabukuro was disrupted by two Just Stop Oil protesters at around 2pm on Wednesday, told reporters in a press conference after his win that the disruption was “obviously not pleasant” – but insisted he was happy with security arrangements at the tournament.
Told an activist was physically carried off by a player during the cricket last week, he said: “I mean, my first reaction was initially to go also, but then I also realised that’s not my place to do that.”
Protesters Deborah Wilde, 68, from London, and Simon Milner-Edwards, 66, from Manchester, were removed from the grounds by security and police.
British number one Katie Boulter also had her match interrupted by activists around two hours after the first protest.
Boulter told reporters during her press conference that she was “pretty sure” there will be more security in place at Wimbledon to ensure the same does not happen again.
She and her opponent Daria Saville helped clear the grass of the orange confetti and the scattered jigsaw pieces thrown by 66-year-old William John Ward, from Epsom – which Boulter described as her “first instinct”.
Asked whether she had been worried when the court was invaded, she said: “Definitely, you never know what it is.
“I think I heard the crowd before I saw anything. Then I realised what it was because I saw it in the previous match.
“It was obviously a little bit of a shock to the system.”
Asked what her view on the protest was, she said: “I would say that I think we all sympathise with what they’re going through completely.
“At the same time, I don’t know if it’s the right place or time.
“When I think back to people who have sat here, as we just talked about, 30 hours trying to watch tennis, it’s really tough on them.
“I sympathise with all of them, every person that’s going through it.
“I think for me as a player, my job is to try and play tennis, and in a way put on a show. I’m going to stick to that.”
She denied feeling in danger at the time and insisted she had “faith” in the security system at Wimbledon.
