WIMBLEDON PARK, ENGLAND — By 8:30 a.m. Monday, there was already over 10,000 people forming an orderly queue for a chance to purchase tickets for the opening day of Wimbledon. Almost 3,000 of them had camped overnight.Among them was London-based fitness instructor Bea Knight and lawyer Sebastian de Boer. After connecting on dating app Hinge, the pair met for the first time last Thursday and decided to embark on a unique second date.“He has been messaging me about a second date and I said I wanted to go to Wimbledon but didn’t have a ticket this year. And he was, like, I will take you to Wimbledon. How about a 28-hour second date?” Knight, 24, laughed.Knight and de Boer were part of a group creeping ever forward after a 5:09 a.m. wake-up call from the on-site stewards. On an average day, Wimbledon Park is a short walk from the All England Club, but today, the promised land where the queue nears its end is at least five hours away.Finding community, friendship and, maybe, even love in the queue is nothing new.Three years ago, Georgia Mainwaring, from Christchurch, New Zealand, was spending three months traveling around the United Kingdom. One of the top items on her itinerary was to join the Wimbledon queue — or The Queue, as the signs in these parts call it. “I came on my own with my book and a tent. Opposite me was this group of eight guys who were very friendly,” Mainwaring said while seated around a laptop watching Canada score a stoppage-time winner against South Africa in the men’s soccer World Cup Sunday evening. Among the group was Billy Hearn. “It was very intimidating being on your own having eight of them there but, anyway, they invited me for a beer,” she said. “We all sat around that evening and had a lovely time. And then me and Billy kept in touch and decided to come to Wimbledon together the next year and our love story started.”The first 500 people in the queue on each of the first 10 days can purchase tickets for the show grounds. (Henry Nicholls / AFP via Getty Images)Some fans come to the queue to see just one famous name. Bobby Sandhu, who arrived at 6.30 p.m. Sunday, moved his tent to the queue for Tuesday’s action. The 30-year-old from Brixton in south London was camping for two nights to ensure he got to see his idol Serena Williams’ return to Centre Court.