Heavy rain threatens to delay play on the second day of Wimbledon after increased security measures saw long queues to get in to the All England Club on Monday.
The Met Office has forecast occasionally heavy rain across the south on Tuesday.
Regardless, fans waited patiently in line and were ready to brave any bad weather to watch a record-matching nine Britons play.
Sir Andy Murray will play fellow Briton Ryan Peniston on Centre Court.
Cameron Norrie will face Tomas Machac from the Czech Republic on Court One.
British players Katie Boulter, Heather Watson, George Loffhagen and Sonay Kartal will also take to the courts on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Dan Evans will continue his match against Frenchman Quentin Halys - which was called off on Monday night as light was fading.
It comes after some spectators who had visited Wimbledon in previous years said the queue on Monday was the “worst” they had seen.
Our Grounds are set to be at capacity today, which means those already in the Queue will be waiting several hours for admission.
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2023
We advise people intending to Queue today not to travel to Wimbledon.
Organisers said extra checks – put in place over over concerns about protests – and high demand were to blame for the slow queue.
Michelle Dite, Operations Manager at Wimbledon, said: “We had 11,500 people through the queue yesterday. We had the highest attendance on day one of the championships since 2015. Lots of reasons why the demand was so high - ballot uptake was incredible, hospitality was sold out. Everyone wants to come on day one.
“We pride ourselves on being an accessible event - so the only way you can really get a ticket is through the queue. Alongside that, you are aware of the environment around us. We did go to 100 per cent bag checks for the safety and security of everyone who came through our gates. That took a bit more time. It caused more delays than anticipated.”
She said additional measures - including more staff and keeping queuers more informed - had been put in place from as early as Monday night.
“We have gone back to the plan. We are confident having reflected on a number of processes. We are sorry that a lot of people were in that queue for a long time.”
She said numbers for the queue on Tuesday were already down on Monday - where as many as 6,000 people were in line by 7am.
“We haven’t got to that number yet today. Probably due to the weather.”
The club’s chief executive, Sally Bolton, earlier told reporters that security arrangements had been boosted after climate change group Just Stop Oil (JSO) disrupted the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, the Gallagher Premiership rugby final at Twickenham and the World Snooker Championship.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman will hold talks on Wednesday with senior sporting figures and police leaders on protecting Wimbledon and other events this summer from disruptive protests.
Event organisers and national sporting bodies will meet Ms Braverman and Sports Secretary Lucy Frazer to discuss the JSO and Animal Rising groups.
Ms Bolton told journalists that security measures included a “100% bag search” and “selective body search” at all gates – the latter of which will be conducted “on the basis of intelligence”.
Chalk dust or powder substances have been banned this year. They were not listed as prohibited items in 2022.
Ms Bolton added: “We are really confident in the measures that we’ve taken but I think, as we’ve seen at other sporting events, we can’t guarantee anything – but we’re extremely confident that the measures we’ve got in place are the right measures and we are ready to deal with something if it happens.”
She also said the club is working with behavioural detection officers from the Metropolitan Police.
“They’re not a new thing this year. We have them every year. So again they’re part of our operation this year and in a slightly enhanced way and maybe looking for slightly different things than they would in any other year,” she said.
Monday also saw play suspended on some courts after rain poured down in south-west London in the afternoon.
There were farcical scenes on Centre Court as ground staff used leaf blowers to try to dry the surface so Novak Djokovic and Pedro Cachin could resume play, which they eventually did after a delay of almost 90 minutes.
British players Jodie Burrage, Liam Broady and Jan Choinski all made it to the second round after winning their matches on Monday.
