July 05, (THEWILL) – Play will resume on Monday at the All England Club after a mid-tournament pause was observed for the last time on Sunday. Although the practice courts were busy, fans were not admitted to the grounds and no official matches were played despite the rare presence of sunshine and clear skies.
Some of the players were observed taking a walk across the tournament grounds embracing the peaceful ambiance. Taiwanese player Hsieh Su-Wei was spotted taking photos on an empty Henman Hill in a casual mood.
For years, Wimbledon has been the only tour-level event with a scheduled rest day even if torrential rains had occasionally forced tournament organizers to call it off. However, through the decades, the Sunday off became a welcomed moment for the players, officials, employees and tournament neighbours to collectively catch their breaths and relax mid-tournament.
But time has caught up with that and 2021 will be the last. Next year will bring change with the traditional Sunday calm giving way to the bustle of a full day of competition. This will come about because Wimbledon plans to expand to 14 days from the standard traditional range of 13 days.
Before that happens, for this year at least, the players had their rest as did the officials, employees and crews. Ahead of the resumption, organisers announced that they planned on having maximum capacity crowds from the singles quarter-finals onwards. This will sync with the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions on attendances by the government.
Previously capped at 50 percent since the start of the tournament last Monday, the initial government restrictions on attendance were to be lifted at the weekend’s finals to allow the 15,000-capacity Centre Court to welcome a packed stand.
What changed to bring about lifting the restrictions earlier was a successful opening week where trialling of a half-filled capacity was successful. That led the government to grant the Championships permission to operate at full capacity on Centre Court from Tuesday’s women’s quarterfinals onwards.
The government of the United Kingdom is using the Wimbledon major as a pilot event for the safe return of crowds as part of the Government’s Events Research Programme in the return to normalcy schedule.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports in the country, and across the globe in March last year, the allowance for fully packed stands at SW19 will mark the first time outdoor stadiums will be at full capacity at a sporting event in the UK as has been happening gradually in other countries with the post-lockdown era.
World number one and defending men’s champion Djokovic gets the action under way on Centre Court against number 17 seed Cristian Garin. Djokovic has only dropped one set so far, against British wildcard Jack Draper in the first round. The Serb will be confident of progress against a man who has never gone beyond the last 16 at a Grand Slam before.
The 17-year-old American wonderkid Coco Gauff follows Djokovic on Centre Court against arguably get toughest opponent yet: the 2018 champion Angelique Kerber.
For the Swiss maestro Roger Federer, his quest for a ninth Wimbledon crown continues against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego on Monday. Appearing rusty and plagued by age at first, the former world number one was back to something like his best on Saturday when dispatching Britain’s Cameron Norrie.
World number one female player Ashleigh Barty starts the day on number one Court against French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova and that will be followed by an enticing encounter between men’s number 16 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alex Zverev, the number 4 seed.
What will thrill the British fans in Monday’s slew of matches in the female draw will be with the third match on number one Court. The 18-year-old British player Emma Raducanu will be hoping for progress as she takes on the unseeded Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, who had a feisty match the last time against Latvian Jelena Ostapenko as THEWILL reported.
Then, there’s the African challenge mounted by the sensational Tunisian Ons Jabeur. In smaller courts, she will slug it out against former French Open champion Iga Swiatek as number two Court sees two of the in-form players in the women’s draw against each other for the first time in SW19.
On court number three, the match has the potential to go either way when 10th seed Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who ended the Brit Andy Murray’s return to Wimbledon earlier than expected, go ahead against the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, who is seeded 8th.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
