Welcome Back Wimbledon!
A "spot" of rain kicked off the opening day; hopes remain that neither it, nor the late player withdrawals — or retirements — plague 2024
Wimbledon, known in in technical terms as The Championships (of the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), is often over-described by the media as the ‘cathedral of tennis’ — the place pilgrims go to see the finest in the game on the game’s original surface: grass. But some may argue that really, the draw of Wimbledon is not necessarily the history, the club or that finely manicured green stuff. It’s the pageantry of the place — the choreography that happens during every single match — from the regular measuring of the net down to the coin toss, all of which signals to onlookers, ‘We take our tennis very, very seriously’.
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But in order to put on the show, the weather — and then the players — have to co-operate. Hundreds of tennis fans set up tents outside the famous grounds in SW19, in eager hopes of watching the first day, but throughout Monday, the weather looked patchy with isolated showers on and off. But the roof stayed open on Centre Court — with a couple of avian guests fluttering in — as Raducanu dispatched Lucky Loser Renata Zarazua of Mexico, drafted in at the last moment to replace No. 22 Ekaterina Alexandrova. “It's amazing to play an opponent like Renata. It's not every day when in the morning you're not in the draw, and the afternoon you're playing on Centre Court, so props to her,” Raducanu said in her post-match victory interview.
The other news came as the withdrawals rolled in. Arnya Sabalenka, the No. 3 seed, and fellow Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka, surprised AELTC management, fans and every “Bracket Battle” player when both pulled out this morning due to shoulder injuries. French Open fourth-rounders Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Corentin Moutet nullified their entries before play began, as did German Dominik Koepfer and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, another tour journeyman. Whether or not Andy Murray, who recently had a back procedure, or Novak Djokovic, who underwent a knee operation, will play tomorrow remains to be seen.
But the show goes on. Fans can marvel at the incredible shot-making, but watch the ball boys and girls — practicing every week for the past five months — open a new can of balls, line them up and roll them out smoothly down the court and then be awestruck at their synchronicity as they move their adolescent arms up and down like just the soldiers of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet. Turn to the impeccably clad chair umpires, perched on their green thrones, overseeing the spectacle before them and think of the Queen each June during the Trooping the Colour. Even the green clad court attendants — usually the more lax of the crews — still jump to attention when a player needs an umbrella to shield him or her from the sun.
All of these gestures add up to a greater opportunity for the main attractions — the players — to showcase their own dances to an awestruck crowd, even when slippery grass will likely results in more than a few tumbles in the coming fortnight. Here are a few more photographs from the 2023 tournament to showcase the scene as tradition prevails during 2024.
