Tennis fans are once again sleeping in tents and lining up at dawn as Wimbledon’s famous queue enters its second week. With the men’s semi-finals tomorrow (Friday), hopefuls are camping out in Wimbledon Park for Centre Court tickets to watch tennis royalty like Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.
On the same day, there’s also the women’s doubles semi-finals and the singles semi-finals for men’s, women’s and quad wheelchair categories, plus junior semi-final matches across singles and doubles.
Among the most dedicated is an 80-year-old man from Italy who has been camped out for three days. He said: “It’s the fourth time. I always queue for a long time and get centre court tickets. This time, I want to follow the match with Sinner.”
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He added: “Wimbledon is magic. There’s a possibility to camp here and to meet new people… This morning I spoke a lot with other people from Switzerland that support Alcaraz. It’s a very very interesting place, and I will continue camping here.”
Two friends from Mississippi, USA, were equally determined to secure a good seat. They said: “We flew on Monday and we’re probably leaving Friday. We started the queue at about 2:30 pm the previous day… total time in the queue would be about 38 hours.”
A group of Belgian fans originally planned to queue for just one day, but changed their minds to boost their chances of getting into Centre Court. They said: “We got here around 2 pm yesterday and set up camp, but we gave up our queue card for today because we weren’t sure it would be enough for Centre Court.”
They added: “It’s the only tournament in the world where we’d go to Centre Court without even knowing who’s playing – just for the atmosphere.”
Not everyone in the queue is here for the big-name stars. A group of friends from London have been turning up to support their friend Hannah Klugman, who’s playing in the junior draw. One said: “We’ve been queueing since 5am, and this is my third time this year doing it just to support her!”
A South African family visiting London on holiday set aside a day to join the Wimbledon queue, calling it a ‘dream’ to finally experience the tournament in person. One of them said: “We’re a big sports family, so it would be really special to watch on Centre or Court One. We got here at 4:30 am, so we’re doing our best to make it happen.”
As the tournament enters its final stretch, anticipation is building for the semi-finals and finals, with a heatwave bringing soaring temperatures to SW19. With Centre Court’s roof shielding players from the sun and fans braving the heat with sun hats and water bottles, Wimbledon’s unique traditions show no signs of slowing down.
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