Wimbledon: The Wimbledon wait has been described by fans as the “worst” they have ever seen, with officials warning newcomers on the first day that they would be extremely unlikely to access the grounds.
The beautiful sky and sunlight of early Monday morning vanished when rain fell on southwest London in the afternoon, delaying play on certain courts.
Organisers warned people not to travel shortly before noon to join the queue.
“Our grounds are set to be at capacity today, which means those who are already in line will have to wait several hours for admission,” Wimbledon tweeted. “We urge anyone who is planning to queue today to avoid going to Wimbledon.”
Wimbledon’s security has been “uplifted” in the aftermath of a string of environmental demonstrations at other important sporting events.
Our Grounds are set to be at capacity today, which means those already in the Queue will be waiting several hours for admission.
We advise people intending to Queue today not to travel to Wimbledon.
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2023
Just Stop Oil disrupted the second Ashes test at Lord’s, the Gallagher Premiership rugby final at Twickenham, and the World Snooker Championship between April and July.
A steward told Becky Deeming, a communications and events manager from London, that the delays were due to enhanced security procedures due to fears about potential demonstrations.
“One of the stewards expressed concern about protesters coming in after seeing them at the Ashes,” Ms Deeming stated.”As a result, they were doing extra bag searches for everyone.”
The 29-year-old arrived at 3.45 a.m. on Monday and entered the grounds at 1.15 p.m.
“There was no water, there was no place to sit, and it was the longest line,” she added.
“Everyone around us had done it several times and said, ‘We have never seen anything like this.'”
“People were getting up and leaving.”
Filip Reha, who travelled to London from the Czech Republic for the competition, also stated he heard security difficulties caused the delays.
This is the worst time I’ve seen,” the 30-year-old remarked of his four visits to Wimbledon. We usually arrived here at 8 a.m. and left around 12.30 p.m.
“This time, it’s terrible.”
“Of course, we’ve taken account of what we’ve seen elsewhere,” AELTC CEO Sally Bolton told reporters, “so security has been increased in various places around the grounds.”
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