Wimbledon is on course for its highest attendance figures since before the pandemic despite there being no British interest left in the singles competition.
So far this year, 252,022 people have walked through the gates of the All England Club. An additional 41,659 attended on “Middle Sunday” - which is now a permenant feature of the Championships. Play has not always taken place on Sunday in the past.
This is the most in the first five days of competition since 2019 when 256,808 people enjoyed the tennis.
The Championships was cancelled in 2020, for the first time since the Second World War, due to the pandemic.
In 2021, attendance was low due to ongoing Covid restrictions, with figures hitting just 129,655 in week one. This year is already substantially busier than in 2022 - when 237,927 people attended in the first week.
The grounds - and the Wimbledon queue - have been noticeably busier this year. On the first day of competition, Monday July 3, 42,815 attended, the busiest opening day since 2015. For most days in the first week, other than Tuesday when there was heavy rain, there have been about 7,000 people in the queue before 7am.
High numbers of people and increased security checks, introduced due to the threat of protest from groups such as Just Stop Oil, have caused long queues - with the Operations Director Michelle Dite apologising last week after some fans complained it was the “worst queue ever”.
Jamie Murray is among the last remaining home talent in the competition. He won both his men’s and mixed doubles matches on Sunday – with similar success for British pair Joe Salisbury and Heather Watson, who also made it through to the third round.
Elsewhere, both the number one seed Carlos Alcaraz and current champion Novak Djokovic will play on Centre Court on day eight.
The weather continues to threaten play this week - with rain predicted on Tuesday morning and also on Wednesday.
On Sunday, tension was sparked on Court One when Belarusian Victoria Azarenka left the court to a chorus of boos after losing a dramatic fourth-round contest to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
The crowd had been overwhelmingly behind Svitolina throughout and produced a deafening roar when she clinched a victory.
The second week of the tournament will welcome more celebrities to Wimbledon.
On Sunday, physicist Brian Cox sat among a cluster of stars in the Royal Box on Centre Court.
Oscar-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya, Olympic gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie, former Pointless co-presenter Richard Osman and singer Ellie Goulding also took their seats in the box.
Also present was Love Actually director Richard Curtis, who signed a letter asking tournament organisers to remove Barclays as sponsors of the competition on climate change grounds ahead of the event kicking off on Monday.
Away from Centre Court on Sunday, umpire John Blom warned spectators not to pop champagne corks when players are about to serve.
Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva had been playing against Anastasia Potapova on Court Three when the umpire gave the warning to a laughing crowd.
He said: “Ladies and gentlemen, please if you are opening a bottle of champagne, don’t do it as the players are about to serve.”
