Wimbledon fans braced themselves for 28C heat on Friday as Sir Andy Murray, Liam Broady and Cameron Norrie attempted to continue the march of the Brits.
Players and fans were facing sweltering conditions at the All England Club after a yellow heat-health alert was issued by the UK Health Security Agency and the Met Office for London.
The alert will be in place from midday on Friday until 9am on Sunday, with the Met Office forecasting temperatures up to 28C at Wimbledon for the next three days. “Spectacular” thunderstorms may also hit the area on Saturday, a Met Office forecaster said.
The queue on Friday morning was busy - with more than 7,000 people in line by 7am. The attendance figures at this year’s tournament are the highest since 2015.
Matthew Turner, 39, and his sister Paula Sellers, 49, joined the queue at 8pm on Wednesday to ensure they would be among the first 20 in line for today.
They have Centre Court tickets - and said it was a “total bonus” to be seeing Sir Andy in action.
The Brit was resuming his second round clash with Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas this afternoon after the match was halted at 10.39pm last night because of a curfew put in place by the local council.
Mr Turner said: “We always come on the Friday and this year we were keen to see Carlos Alcaraz or some of the younger, newer players but I was looking at the scores last night with Andy and I was hopeful we’d also get to see him. It’s a total bonus.”
Lindy Short, 62, and Jennifer Carpenter, 61, said they were ready for the scorching temperatures. “We have hand fans and we usually try and get the tickets where you’re in the shade a bit. I think it will be hard for the players in this heat, especially the ones who have been playing a lot this week.”
A spokesperson from the All England Club urged fans to “look after themselves” - suggesting they stay hydrated, wear sunscreen and try to spend some time in the shade.
Friday’s temperatures will not be warm enough, however, for organisers to execute their “Heat Rule” protocols, which only kick in when temperatures hit 30.1C and above. The rule allows a 10-minute break to be taken between the second and third set for best-of-three set matches, or between the third and fourth set for best-of-five set matches.
The heat rule has only been applied on two Wimbledon days in recent years - in 2006 and 2009.
Broady was stepping back on the court after his career-best win over world number four Casper Ruud on Centre Court yesterday, becoming the first British male into the third round in the process.
Norrie will play his second-round match against American Christopher Eubanks, while Katie Boulter will meet last year’s champion Elena Rybakina in the third round on Saturday.
