The first day of Wimbledon 2026 was spectacular. In the opening game on Centre Court, Jannik Sinner, the world number one, started slowly, untidily. Meanwhile, his opponent, Miomir Kecmanovic, an established player but not a star on the tour, put in a battling and inspiring display, taking the Italian to five sets in a game that proved to be an epic. There were slips and falls, the crowd rose to its feet on more than one occasion — dropped champagne, strawberries flying about the place as they tumbled from goblets of Pimm’s — as all witnessed two heroes put on a sensational show.
Few opening games in recent memory have been so entertaining: these players did the Championship proud with their leaps, rolls and drop shots. Gracefully, temperatures stayed in the late 20s, though Centre Court felt a little like an oven, the sun trap that it is. And so almost everyone — bar perhaps David Beckham, who stayed elegant in his tailored grey suit and sunglasses aside from when he was cajoled into partaking in a Mexican Wave next to Mary Berry — had to escape the heat at least once during an interval. Some fans, possibly those to have indulged in a fair amount of Stella, paused to nap on benches; others picnicked on Henman Hill with miniature bottles of Lanson and better pizza than in previous years; I saw a few couples settle down to canned wine and, yes, there was a lot of charcuterie, curls of faux Italian meat glistening in the London sun.
