Cameron Norrie’s silver lining to first-round exit… he can now attend own stag do

By Cameron Henderson
The number of people queuing in Wimbledon Park for tickets hit 10,000 this morning as tennis fans tried their luck to gain entry to the first day of the Championship.

Sally Bolton, the chief executive of the All England Tennis Club (AELTC), said: “We were sort of 10,000 by about 8.30am, so we are advising people if they haven’t already set off not to travel because the queue is effectively full.”

She said the queue has grown “increasingly popular” since the pandemic. “By comparison to last year, it is really busy,” she said. “We do have people who sort of tend to arrive fairly early to get in what’s often called the ‘queue for the queue’, so people are getting there earlier and earlier.

She continued: “You do have to now get here really quite early to be at the front of the queue.”

Campaigners criticised the AELTC for encouraging large number of tennis fans to camp out in Wimbledon Park the day before the Championship, comparing the spectacle to “Glastonbury” music festival.

On Monday morning, around 70 protesters wearing oversized ears stood in the park, across the road from the tennis club, chanting “AELTC can you hear us”, according to Simon Wright, a member of Save the Park.