New arrivals in Wimbledon in the past few weeks have been bombarded with a huge banner as they exit the station en route to the tennis. “Always like never before,” it booms.
That has certainly been true of the 2023 edition, in which there has been protests and geopolitical rows, breakout stars and sparkling runs, doily dresses and rocketing sales amid a cost of living crisis.
On the final day of the competition tennis fans wait to see if the Wimbledon veteran Novak Djokovic can win an eighth title and match the record held by Roger Federer by holding off a challenge from the new pretender, 20-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.
On Saturday, the Czech Markéta Vondroušová became the first woman to win the competition unseeded, emulating Boris Becker in the 1985 men’s singles, after she beat the Tunisian Ons Jabeur. Neal Skupski became just the second Briton to win the Wimbledon men’s doubles in the Open Era, while the British duo Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid won their fifth Wimbledon wheelchair doubles title.
Hewett hopes to add to his trophy haul in the men’s wheelchair singles final on Sunday, while the 17-year-old Henry Searle is just one win away from becoming the first British boys’ champion at Wimbledon in 61 years.
The matches bring to a close an eventful two weeks that seen no shortage of drama, on and off the court. The tournament opened to glorious sunshine, but there was unprecedented chaos in the normally polite and orderly queue.
This year, organisers implemented stricter security measures, which included the use of undercover police officers in courts, in a bid to halt climate protesters who had already disrupted several events this year. The airport-style checks resulted in long waits to get in, with some people complaining they had been waiting for 10 hours, with little communication from organisers about when they could hope to enter the grounds.
Wimbledon then apologised, and did a 360-degree reassessment of their procedures. Full bag searches continued throughout the week. They ultimately proved futile, with Just Stop Oil protesters disrupting play twice on the third day by running on to court 18 and throwing jigsaws bought in the onsite shop.
It was time to focus on tennis, but unfortunately for British fans there was little to cheer after the early stages. The former two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray went out in the second round, hinting that he may have played his last Wimbledon match, while Liam Broady and Cameron Norrie were knocked out on Fragile Friday. The British female No 1 Katie Boulter was the last of the Brits to vacate the competition on Saturday.
Murray’s departure sparked more debate about the scheduling at Wimbledon, and its 11pm curfew, after he lost to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, having taken the lead before their match was postponed at 10.40pm. He also suggested live electronic line calling should be used at the competition, after a crucial call wrongly went against him – tournament organisers said it was considering the move.
Fans found themselves implicated in an ongoing geopolitical row that bubbled beneath the surface of this Wimbledon, as Russian and Belarusian players were let back into the competition as neutrals, after being banned from playing last year.
The Belarusian Victoria Azarenka faced some boos as she left the court after her defeat against the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who had a baby less than nine months ago and carried the hopes of a nation to the semi-finals, earning pride from her compatriots and disbelief from exhausted new parents.
Azarenka said the treatment was “not fair” as she was respecting Svitolina’s decision to not shake the hands of any Russian or Belarusian players while Russian troops remain in Ukraine.
The Belarusian suggested Wimbledon fans had drunk “a lot of Pimm’s” when questioned about the, seemingly misplaced, boos at the post match press conference. “If people are going to be focusing only on handshakes or [the] quite drunk crowd, booing in the end, that’s a shame,” she said.
There are no plans, the Guardian understands, to limit the amount of Pimms for sale next year at SW19.