Wimbledon Leaves Fans in Shambles as They Are Left to Contend With a Bizarre First Day as the Championships Get Off to a Problematic Start- ‘Never Seen Anything Like This…’

Everyone has been eagerly waiting for the Wimbledon Championships to start to see their favorite stars creating magic on the grass. However, many fans who were at the SW19 courts were disappointed as rain delays, heightened security, and technical broadcasting issues dampened their spirits. The past month has been full of controversies for Wimbledon officials. From excluding Andy Murray from the portrait of legends to preferring Coco Gauff over Novak Djokovic in the promotional video; many of their decisions have been questioned by the fans. This time around, it was the weather Gods that wrecked their plan for a beautiful first day for the Championships.

However, time mismanagement too drew the public ire. The fans were expecting to witness history as Novak Djokovic is chasing his 8th Wimbledon and 24th grand slam. He faced Pedro Cachin of Argentina in the first match. However, some fans had to wait for more than 10 hours to get into the stadium.

Threat of ‘Just Stop Oil’ led to long queues that made fans wait for hours

The heightened security was beefed up to stop the ‘Just Stop Oil’ protests. Just Stop Oil had threatened protests at Wimbledon earlier. It is a civil resistance group that aims to force the government of Britain from licensing new fossil fuel explorations. And in the past too, its protesters have disrupted high profile sporting events. In April, a protester splashed orange power over the table in the Snooker World Championship. Also, the protesters disrupted the Grand National track in April this year.

To stop the possible protests, bag and body searches were carried out by the security.  And authorities banned chalk dust and other powders in the ground. Cable ties, glue, chains and padlocks are other items that are banned. The list of 19 banned items was earlier made public. A Londoner described the situation in these words, “Other people who have done the queue for multiple years said that it’s never been anything like this before. There was no communication from anywhere.” And security checks were not the only thing that irked the fans.

The rain and mismanagement by the Wimbledon staff

The fans criticized the management for slowly reacting to the rain. And it took time for the management to close the roof of the centre court as rain the fell. On Court No. 1 the response was more swift. It delayed the match as the fans, exhausted by standing in long queues, waited for their stars in action. And Djokovic humorously dropped his towel on the ground to manually dry the grass. Also, he patted the Wimbledon staff as they tried to dry the grass with leaf blowers. And the Serbian star who was booed in France a couple times received an applause from the audience for the act.

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The broadcasting issues too played a part, as reported by The Guardian. Due to the technical issues, the BBC couldn’t broadcast the first round match of Djokovic. Fans would expect to witness the entertainment and the better management of the delays by Wimbledon officials in the coming matches.

Do you think officials could have managed the event better? Let us know in the comments.

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