The intimacy of the outside courts at Wimbledon, where the first row of spectators is inches away from the playing surface, is very much part of the fun, but there are times when a line needs to be drawn. Tuesday’s match between Harriet Dart and Zhuoxuan Bai offered a prime example, as a champagne cork flew into the tramlines from a courtside seat in the middle of Bai’s third service game. Having asked a ballgirl to retrieve it, the umpire had a slightly testy request. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “maybe we should open the bottles in the changeovers?”
New ‘virtual’ queue
Queues are another essential part of the Wimbledon experience, whether it is The Queue itself, so grand that it gets a capital “Q”, to get past the front gate, or the many lines that coil around from the outside courts as spectators wait for seats to become free. The queue for returns to the show courts, on the other hand, has been thoroughly modernised this year, thanks to a trial of a “virtual” queue which means that fans register early for a return to Centre, No 1 or No 2 courts and then get a text when, or if, one of the original ticket holders heads for home. It means an end to the old-fashioned practice of hanging around outside the exits and begging for tickets, but more than a thousand fans took advantage of the opportunity to get into one of the hallowed courts on Monday, with the proceeds going to the Wimbledon Foundation.
Drugs do work
Unexpected things that you can do at Wimbledon should you be so inclined include picking up a prescription, thanks to the on-site pharmacy behind No 1 Court operated by John Bell & Croyden of Wigmore Street, a firm with an even more venerable history than the AELTC, as it dates back to 1798. The pharmacist on duty on Tuesday had a wide variety of medications on hand, and while she conceded that “not many” tennis-goers take advantage of the service over the fortnight, those that do are presumably very grateful for the opportunity. Pain-killers – for the aftermath of the latest agonising defeat for a British hopeful, perhaps – are popular too. The impressive range of sun creams, on the other hand, was, on Tuesday at least, entirely superfluous.
Witless press release
The fight for equal prize money for the male and female players at Wimbledon was won nearly 20 years ago, but the news that women are not necessarily mere appendages to the men in their life has yet to reach some parts of tennis PR-land. An early contender for most witless press release of the fortnight arrived on Tuesday, naming Elina Svitolina, the wife of Gael Monfils, as the “star Wag” of Wimbledon 2024. That’s the same Elina Svitolina who is seeded 21 for this year’s women’s singles and reached the semi-finals for the second time 12 months ago. Her other half, as it happens, has never made it beyond round four.
