BBC Radio One star Matt Edmondson has confessed he once nearly got kicked out of a Wimbledon match because he was in stitches of laughter over Declan Donnelly.
Wimbledon is known for its strict “quiet please” instructions to spectators, with hushed tones the norm when matches are in play.
Reliving some of his favourite Wimbledon shenanigans, the BBC Radio 1 star revealed he was in hysterics after he got sat next to Dec who “made it his mission” to make Edmondson laugh out loud.
He said: “There’s a weird atmosphere at Wimbledon sometimes, which I struggle with. They say ‘quiet please’ and it goes pin-drop quiet but you’re on a court with thousands of people.
“It’s that sort of school assembly thing where you think, ‘oh god, I can’t make a noise, I can’t laugh’ and because you know you can’t, it makes you want to laugh more.
“Dec cottoned onto the fact that I was experiencing some stress, and he then made it his mission to try and make me laugh.”
Edmondson, 36, said for the rest of the game he was “hunched over with tears streaming down my face”.
“I was so close to getting kicked off the court because he was being too funny,” he said.
Edmondson also revealed he has “done a bit of court sneaking in my time” at the SW19 tennis championships.
“I had a year at Wimbledon where I was doing some work there but didn’t have access to any of the courts. I found if I walked with enough confidence, I would be able to hover around the top of the court.”
This year, Edmondson is hosting the official Wimbledon podcast, Wimbledon: Between the Lines podcast, with his BBC Radio 1 co-star Mollie King.
Together with evian, the podcast takes listeners to the heart of this year’s championships with celebrity guests and players.
He added: “It’s the Wimbledon podcast that I would want to listen to. It’s not super geeky on the stats, it’s more about the vibe of the place.”
