WIMBLEDON — Strawberries and cream, the pop of a champagne cork and a plucky Brit fighting for their tennis life on Centre Court.
These are the staples of Wimbledon that have been largely the same for nearly 150 years. But not this year.
In fact, there has been no British singles presence on Centre Court in the first five days of play. Arthur Fery, the last British player standing alone, was not even born the last time this happened, and I can honestly say my jaw dropped a little when his third-round clash with Zizou Bergs was relegated to Court 18 on Saturday, a court with just 782 seats surrounding it.
“We’re looking at every single day and also several days in advance, actually, and our policy on scheduling really is to try to get the best matches on the biggest courts,” tournament director Jamie Baker said when I asked him – ahead of releasing Saturday’s schedule – why the first five days on Centre had been Brit-free.
Fery beat Otto Virtanen in front of less than 800 people on Thursday – and will play there again on Saturday (Photo: AFP)
