A Wimbledon fan with a Roger Federer tattoo has said it is his dream for the tennis champion to see the tribute.
Danilo Criscuoler, from Naples, was near the front of the Wimbledon queue on Sunday.
He was one of a few hundred tennis lovers in the queue ahead of the first day of the tournament on Monday.
Joined by a group of friends from his home city, he said they were excited to see the Italian players compete.
Dressed in full tennis gear, he revealed that he had a large tattoo of Federer’s face on the back of his calf.
He said he got the tattoo after the Swiss player’s comeback from injury in 2017.
Asked if Federer knew about the tattoo, he said: “He doesn’t know. This is one of my targets and my goal. I want to achieve this goal in my life.
“Because I want that he can look at this tattoo just one time in my life.”
While other tennis fans had not gone to the same lengths to show their love for the sport, one family from Dublin were delighted to find that they were first in the queue this year.
Dan Barker, 23, has been queuing alongside his parents Nicky, 54, and Julia, 47, since 7.30am on Saturday.
His advice for people who want to top the queue is “come early”.
“We got here about 7.30 yesterday (Saturday) morning,” he said.
“We weren’t expecting to actually be first. We’ve been here before Covid and we were just hoping it’d be a safe bet, that we’d get Centre Court or whatever.
“And then we get here and it’s just a ghost town, we were like – where is everybody?
“And then we ended up being first. So just get here as early as possible.”
He said a tent was “the main thing” to pack.
“Once you’ve a roof to sleep under everything else is fine.”
He added: “It makes life a lot easier once you have shops around the corner.”
Suzanne Pyefinch, 57, from Norfolk, joined the queue for the 38th consecutive year.
She said that the key to queuing is “be prepared to wait”.
“Come early, be prepared to wait, bring lots of drinks, and a comfortable chair, wait for your ticket and go and have a great day,” she said.
She added that tea and coffee are “very important”.
“Pimm’s is great, but you need your tea and coffee,” she said.
