SW19 declared a World Cup exclusion zone
The only game at the All England Club is tennis, Jamie Johnson discovers at Wimbledon ‘We only ever show tennis. That’s always been our policy. We are a tennis event’
For those England football fans travelling to Wimbledon today, Telegraph Sport has some good news – there is one television screen at the All England Club that shows all the games live and uninterrupted. The bad news is that it is located in the players’ warm-up area, and is therefore out of bounds to the general public.
This particular corner of south-west London has declared itself to be football-free, with tennis taking precedence over the World Cup and no games to be shown live, no matter how well England do.
After taking a walk around the grounds during France’s game with Uruguay yesterday afternoon that policy is clearly holding firm, with the exception of the area reserved for the stars of SW19. That became clear when Gael Monfils arrived a couple of minutes late for his 3.45pm press conference in a buoyant mood. Not only had he beaten No11 seed Sam Querrey, but he had done so just in time to see France go 1-0 up.
“My first question when I came off court was, ‘What’s the score?’” said the Frenchman. “It was 0-0 so I tried to rush. I was lucky enough to see Raphael Varane score. It has been a perfect day so far.”
A Wimbledon insider said that Monfils was late because he was watching added time of the first half. He had timed his conference perfectly. Where was he off to next? “The locker room, to finish the game,” came the reply in the corridors of the media centre.
When the second half kicked off, a crowd of five had gathered around the screen. Exercise bikes had been left vacant and equipment put down. It was Suarez, rather than Serena, they were watching.
Later today Kyle Edmund will be playing Novak Djokovic in one of the biggest games of the Englishman’s career, with the start almost certainly overlapping with the climax of England v Sweden. Those tennis fans hoping to watch both have been told that it won’t be easy. “Bring a smartphone and make sure you know where to get the Wi-fi,” said 52-year-old Sylvain Botbol, a banking consultant from Paris who bought his Centre Court tickets months ago but took drastic measures to watch both Monfils v Querrey and Uruguay v France.
“I am currently doing both,” he said, while sitting on a bench outside Centre Court. “I have 15 minutes of football and 15 minutes of tennis. I have no choice. It’s a bit disappointing that they are not showing the football here. I even checked before, but they said no. What I am doing is a bit crazy, but I had to adapt.” Although he said he was happy with how the Monfils match was going [he was up in the fourth set when we spoke], he said: “Without doubt I would prefer France to win in the football.”
Despite there being two French players on Centre Court yesterday, in Monfils and Kristina Mladenovic, there was no French invasion of Wimbledon. Even if the weather felt more like the south of France than south-west London, flags and face paint were difficult to spot, and it appeared that football fans had largely stayed away. There were no hordes of people glued to smartphones on Henman Hill cheering as Fernando Muslera spilt Antoine Griezmann’s shot into his own net.
“We are just here for the tennis,” said one Frenchwoman. “I think we will win against Uruguay anyway,” her husband added.
Today the scene will surely be different, but Wimbledon has not backed down on its policy. Richard Lewis, the chief executive, said: “We only ever show tennis. That’s always been our policy on the grounds. We will continue to do that. We are a tennis event.”
It has been reported that local pubs are ready for a mass influx of people just before 3pm and will even remove their garden furniture to accommodate football fans. The Championships were founded in 1877, so are well used to World Cup years. But if football is coming home, then home is certainly not SW19. Unless, of course, you are a professional tennis player.