Olympians’ success fails to rub off at Wimbledon
TOM Daley and a host of Britain’s finest Olympic athletes failed to inspire many golden moments yesterday – as two more home-grown tennis players were knocked out of Wimbledon.
Diving champion Daley, 28, was invited to sit in Centre Court’s Royal Box along with many of his fellow medal winners.
Wearing a bright yellow suit paired with a pink tie, Daley was accompanied by his husband Dustin Lance Black, 48, a Hollywood scriptwriter, who opted for a pale blue suit with a matching tie.
Curling champs Eve Muirhead, Jen Dodds, and Hailey Duff, arrived as a trio – while Paralympians Dame Sarah Storey, Hannah Cockroft, and Sir Lee Pearson, were all cheering on the home players too.
Also enjoying the prestigious seats were Olympic swimming champion Adam Peaty, who appeared on the last series of Strictly Come Dancing, and Paralympian Kadeena Cox, a star of last year’s I’m A Celebrity.
England football manager Gareth Southgate attended with his wife Alison, a year after leading the Three Lions to the Euros final at Wembley.
Going against tradition, the sporting
Jon Coates
guru was not wearing his trademark waistcoat as he stood up to wave to fans – and that good luck charm was sorely missed by our players.
Both Katie Boulter, 25, and Liam Broady, 28, crashed out of the tour in their third-round matches, failing to join fellow Britons Cameron Norrie and Heather Watson in the last 16.
Organisers at the south-west London site are hoping the success of British men’s number one Norrie, 26 and women’s number four Watson, 30, will boost ticket sales after a lower-thanexpected turnout.
Attendance at the Championships over the opening four days was down 11 per cent compared with 2019 – the last time the tournament was hosted before Covid rules limited its capacity.
But the broader success of emerging British stars like Emma Raducanu, who made history after winning the US Open last year as a qualifier, has sparked a national boom in recreational tennis.
Since the 19-year-old’s fairy tale win, there has been a 10 per cent rise in those aged 16 to 34 using local courts, the Lawn Tennis Association reports.