Russian players are back at Wimbledon after the All England Club stood alone in banning them from competition in 2022, achieved nothing much for its efforts and this year backed down. On day one of the tournament there was not much enthusiasm on anyone’s part to engage with the issue but Andrey Rublev, the men’s No 7 seed, did offer his thoughts. The Russian said: “I think obviously there was better options. Not just to ban. Because in the end, there was no difference. [Wimbledon] did only worse to themselves.” Rublev beat the Australian Max Purcell in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, to progress to the second round. Meanwhile, Ukraine remains occupied by Russian forces for a 495th day.
Azarenka embraces progressive cause
Victoria Azarenka, also excluded from the tournament last year as a native of Belarus, was vocal in her criticism of Wimbledon’s sanctions at the time. In 2023 she embraced the chance to get behind a more progressive cause, becoming one of the first female players to wear coloured shorts, a change introduced by the All England Club this year to give women greater confidence while playing during their period. Azarenka, choosing her words carefully, said the shorts were “a thoughtful addition” to the rules. “Yeah, I think that’s a pretty appropriate word,” she said. “It’s very thoughtful, because there are obvious situations that can be tricky and uncomfortable.”
Emergency picnics soothe The Queue
A quick word for the 10,000 people kicking around in Wimbledon Park on Monday lunchtime as The Queue ground to a halt. While most said they had never seen the like before, including John and Susan Pearson who claimed to have queued for every Wimbledon for the past 50 years, the mood remained largely cheery as people waited a minimum of eight hours to pick up first-come-first-served tickets, if they were lucky enough to get in at all. Organisers blamed the extra security necessary to stop the threat of orange paint (and attached Just Stop Oil activists) but, while most punters were bemused as to what was actually going on, the activation of emergency picnics appeared to soothe the situation somewhat (that said the queue for the burger van was 50 deep).
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Piros poised for first-round action
Big night for Zsombor Piros. The Hungarian, ranked 113 in the world, is at the time of writing just one unfortunate slip on a floor tile away from a place in the Wimbledon men’s draw. Thanks to Nick Kyrgios’s late withdrawal, all four of Wimbledon’s “lucky loser” places have now been used up, meaning Piros is now the highest-ranked defeated qualifier remaining and, as such, next in line for a place should anyone further drop out before the first round is completed. If any suspicious banana skins are spotted on the practice courts, please do report to the Diary.