If there's one British tradition that can rival Wimbledon itself, it's the Queue. And this morning, it was busier than ever.An astonishing 10,000 hopeful tennis fans had already joined the famous line by 8.30am on the opening day of The Championships in order to snap up the precious few spare tickets for both the grounds and the show courts.It prompted organisers to issue an unusual plea on Monday: if you haven't already left home, don't bother - the queue is effectively full.While some may blame the glorious opening-day buzz, Wimbledon chief executive Sally Bolton says there's another, rather modern, culprit helping swell the crowds.The humble Lime Bike.Speaking as thousands of eager fans snaked through Wimbledon Park in the hope of securing one of the coveted daily tickets, Ms Bolton explained that today's queue has become even more popular than in the years immediately after Covid.'It used to be people catching the first Tube into Southfields,' she said. 'Now, with Lime and other hire bikes, people can reach the queue much more easily from further afield.'However, overcrowded parking bays have led Merton Council to threaten to seize abandoned Lime bikes after hundreds of fans have left them scattered on the streets of Wimbledon while trying to join the tennis tournament Queue.More than 9,000 people joined the Queue by 7.30am this morning and ditched masses of Lime and Forest rental bikes, which have 'completely overwhelmed' the area, councillors have said. More than 9,000 tennis lovers joined the Wimbledon Queue by 7.30am this morning after 10,000 descended on the tournament yesterday, bringing hundreds of rental e-bikes (file photo) Wimbledon told fans to STOP queueing for tickets after 10,000 turned up on Day OnePlans to alleviate the congestion - requiring riders to dismount at nearby Church Street and drop off their bikes elsewhere - have also proved insufficient for the hordes of two-wheeled tennis fans.Pavements and walkways outside the All England Club have been blocked by bikes that have overflowed from the designated drop-off points.It's prompted Merton Council to warn operators: 'If the situation does not improve quickly, the council will start seizing bikes where there is a serious safety risk.'They added: 'We're disappointed that a small number of riders are ignoring the rules, and we expect Lime and Forest to be issuing fines to riders to ensure Merton's streets are clear and safe.'We've also made sure both Lime and Forest have increased their staffing during the tennis to deal with abandoned or poorly-parked bikes as quickly as possible.'We've requested an urgent meeting with both operators tomorrow and, in the meantime, asked the operators to increase their resourcing. We've increased our presence there too.'E-bikes have been linked to a spate of serious crashes and brought about a nasty piece of medical jargon in the process - 'Lime bike leg': a nickname for those who have broken their legs after being crushed by the heavy bike frames. Wimbledon organisers at the All England Club believe that the availability of these electric rental bikes has caused the huge increase of people joining the Queue early on the first day of the Championships.Before, fans had to wait for the first Tube to get to the courts, but now more than 10,000 people made their way overnight between Sunday and Monday. Ms Bolton had been worried that the queue might die post-Covid after the harsh restrictions, but it's now more popular than ever, with people arriving 'earlier and earlier' because of the change in travel norms.The massive uptick of e-bike rentals in the area has brought its problems for at least a dozen Forest customers directly, who were unable to electronically 'end' their rides in the designated parking bay, seemingly due to a GPS malfunction. Merton Council has warned it will start seizing wayward e-bikes left outside the designated parking bays and expects operators Lime and Forest to start issuing fines for those flouting the rules All England Club CEO Sally Bolton said that the emergence of e-bikes is responsible for the huge crowds at the Queue this year Some customers appear to have had trouble with the GPS system in their bikes so were unable to electronically 'end' their ride in the parking bays. Wardens acted ineffectually, a councillor saidCouncillors have said that this faulty GPS could let riders end journeys outside the designated bays and mean the bikes are left deserted on the pavement instead.Most e-bike rental services have GPS trackers on their cycles to make sure the rider is at an assigned parking bay to end their trip, but if this is inaccurate, it can lead to bikes being left in improper spots and blocking walkways.Liberal Democrat Merton Councillor Anthony Fairclough warned that this has been the case at Wimbledon this year and said that wardens provided by the bike operators 'do not always respond quickly' with areas that have been overwhelmed.There are about 350 e-bike parking bays across Merton and the Council has worked with neighbouring Wandsworth to temporarily enlarge some to deal with the excess traffic during the tournament. The Queue itself, in a typical British way, has become something of an institution, with tennis lovers being happy to bed down under canvas, clutching camping chairs, flasks and picnic bags in the hope of securing one of the coveted daily tickets.Around 500 tickets for each of the show courts are made available every morning for those prepared to wait.Fans have also noticed that the queues seem busier this year than in the last few years. Speaking from the queue, an Italian tennis fan from Ravenna told Daily Mail Sport: 'I've been here [three times] in 2019, 2024 [and today].'I noticed more people after COVID. In 2024 (I went on the middle) Saturday, and in 2019 it was on Wednesday, and there were, I think, less people than this year, this year there a lot of people. Probably a lot of Italian people.'At the very front of the queue, Sarah had arrived with her cohort on Saturday evening, in a bid to 'choose' which day they would attend. Having attended through the queue seven or eight times, she had met 'her best friends' queueing and is a staunch advocate of the practice.'When we [first] came, it was Roger [Federer] and Rafa [Nadal], and so the crowds were honestly this level,' she said.'It was afterwards that it kind of went down, but yes, compared to last year, yesterday, for opening day, it was really, really crazy.'Last night was a little less, but definitely I think [it's] getting back to what it was before, with [Jannik] Sinner getting big again, and [Carlos] Alcaraz - he’s not here, but it would have been even bigger here.' Wimbledon chiefs acknowledged the dynamics of the famous queue are always changingShe added: 'I am a queue champion. I know a lot of people have a lot of problems with it. I think it's spectacular. It's real fans that get into the stadiums.'Katie, who runs YouTube podcast ChalkDust Tennis with her husband Dan, queued for the 1981 final between John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg, and the couple have noticed that the increase in visitors in recent years have failed to dim its magic.'Each year we've come a little bit earlier, because we can see it's getting - I'll say 10 per cent but it's the number between 10 and 20 per cent busier each year, and obviously, social media [has impacted this],' Dan noted.'Coming at five in the morning would get you in the first 2,000, once upon a time.'That's gone, so now people come the day before the night before. This year we were thinking, well, we came at 10.30am this year yesterday morning [to be at the front of the queue], whereas we were coming at like 12pm, or one o'clock lunch time the previous two years.'Alice Pleasant, Senior Public Affairs Manager at Lime said: 'It's great to see so many people choosing to cycle to Wimbledon. Events like this highlight the growing role cycling plays in helping Londoners move around the capital every day, as well as getting to major cultural and sporting moments.'We have been planning and preparing for the tournament since last year, working closely with both the organisers at Wimbledon and Merton Council.'This included agreeing and installing dedicated, staffed parking bays on the Club's grounds. We've also worked with the Council to fund and increase the number of temporary parking bays in areas of high demand, including tube and train stations in Wimbledon Village.'We have increased on-the-ground Lime staffing to keep vehicles parked neatly and safely throughout the day, too.'We're monitoring the situation, but this morning's data shows positive results.'We're proud and confident that we're managing parking and making our service work for everyone in Wimbledon - whether they have Limed there or not. We look forward to continuing to work with the organisers and the Council moving forward.'A Forest spokesperson said: 'As expected, we're seeing a significant spike in demand for our services in Merton, driven by the start of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.'We've been working closely with Merton Council in recent months to prepare for the tournament, including introducing temporary parking bays and deploying our operational team to support journeys in the local area.'We're aware that certain parking bays are particularly busy, and in response to this, we have deployed extra support to these locations to help manage demand and minimise disruption.'