Wimbledon has apologised and taken urgent measures to address chaos in the entry queue on Monday, after fans complained of long queues and a lack of communication before the start of the tennis championships.
The south-west London event drew 42,815 spectators on Monday, the largest crowd since 2015, compared with 36,603 on the opening day of 2022. Michelle Dite, the operations director at Wimbledon, said 11,500 people had joined the queue on Monday and the large attendance plus extra security measures had slowed entry into the grounds.
Queue numbers were lower on Tuesday morning, with some fans thought to have been put off by the prospect of thunder and lightning and heavy showers forecast throughout the day.
The Princess of Wales, a keen tennis fan and patron of the Lawn Tennis Association, joined the spectators at SW19, taking her place in the royal box to honour the legacy of the tennis legend Roger Federer.
The eight-time Wimbledon champion took his seat next to Kate, after enjoying a lengthy standing ovation from the Centre Court crowd. Behind them sat Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was imprisoned in Iran for six years. The British-Iranian recently met the former Wimbledon champion Sir Andy Murray and told him of her “joy” at watching him play while she was imprisoned in Iran.
👋 A warm welcome to Our Patron, HRH The Princess of Wales #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/8Zqlq6SXia
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 4, 2023
Kate also watched Katie Boulter on Court 18 in the morning where a large crowd, including Boulter’s boyfriend, the Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur, gathered to cheer on the British women’s No 1 before rain stopped play.
The Princess of Wales had been met at the ground by Emma Raducanu, who is not playing at this year’s Wimbledon after a string of injuries, and the former British No 1 Laura Robson.
A standing ovation awaited Roger Federer as he arrived to the Royal Box on Centre Court at #Wimbledon. pic.twitter.com/a08z1zNVp7
— Laver Cup (@LaverCup) July 4, 2023
Fans are preparing to watch nine British players on the second day of play, including Murray, who plays his fellow Briton Ryan Peniston on Centre Court.
The British men’s No 1, Cameron Norrie, will face Tomas Machac from the Czech Republic on Court One.
Heather Watson, George Loffhagen, Sonay Kartal and Arthur Fery will also take to the courts. Dan Evans, who was trailing behind France’s Quentin Halys 2-6, 3-6 when their match was suspended at 8.45pm on Monday, will also play.
A Royal welcome for HRH The Princess of Wales at Wimbledon from Emma Raducanu & Laura Robson ☺️
— LTA (@the_LTA) July 4, 2023
📷 @Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/hw0h0snxrE
Speaking before play on Tuesday, Dite apologised for the length of time some fans were having to wait, with some people queueing for up to 10 hours to get into the grounds, while others left after a lack of communication on wait times.
Organisers had reassessed the logistics plan on Monday evening after complaints from regular queuers, some describing the organisation as the worst they had ever experienced.
“We’ve reallocated some resources in different places, and we’re ready to go,” Dite said. “We’re confident, having reflected on what happened yesterday. We’re sorry that there were a number of people that were in that queue for a long time.”
Asked if they had changed their communications plans for day two, Dite said: “Absolutely, yes. We’ve rebriefed all the people out there … We have the ability to put out PA, which we’ll uplift today, and make sure that there are people moving down the queues to give not just the front [knowledge of] what’s to come, but also the back.”
She added that there were 6,000 people in the queue by 7am on Monday, a figure that had not been matched by 10am on Tuesday.
Wimbledon security staff will continue to search every bag of spectators coming into the grounds, which they blamed on causing bottlenecks at entry points on Monday. The measures were put in place to prevent protests from climate activists such as Just Stop Oil, who have disrupted multiple sporting events in recent months.
Dite said Wimbledon was in discussions with the organisers of other events such as the Derby, Silverstone and the English and Wales Cricket Board in order to share knowledge about how to thwart protesters, comparing it to the collaboration they shared during the Covid pandemic lockdowns, and saying it was like “getting the band back together again”.
The home secretary and culture secretary are holding a roundtable on Tuesday of different sporting bodies, police and event organisers “to discuss how best to protect this summer’s sporting and cultural events from these criminal stunts”.
