Top 10 spectators
Top 10 spectators
Queen Elizabeth II, 2010. For the first time since
her silver jubilee in 1977, the Queen made the trip to Wimbledon,
swapping her beloved horses for a bit of tennis and afternoon tea in the
Royal Box. She watched Andy Murray's defeat of Jarkko Nieminen.
Bill Clinton, 2001. Glitz
and glamour does not come much bigger than when a US president comes to
town. Though Clinton had left office by this time, his arrival in the
Royal Box during a rain delay in 2001 was a star turn though he said he
was as thrilled to be at Wimbledon for the first time as the crowd was
to hear him speak. Clinton further endeared himself to the Centre Court
faithful as he revealed that he liked playing, but that he was always a
bit slow around the court.
Melissa Johnson (aka the streaker), 1996. Richard
Krajicek and MaliVai Washington were warming up for the final of the
men’s singles when Johnson, a 23-year-old London student, sporting only a
small apron, dashed across Centre Court. It was the first streaking
incident on Centre Court and while it seemed to relax Krajicek, it had
the opposite effect on Washington. "I got flustered, and three sets
later I was gone," the American. Former champion John McEnroe, working
for American TV, said: “Let’s get replays from all angles.”
People’s Sunday, 1991. For
the first time in the tournament’s history, after horrendous first-week
weather, Wimbledon opened its gates on the middle Sunday. The queue for
the £10 Centre Court and Court No.1 tickets was 1.5 miles long and the
crowd was louder and livelier than anything The Championships had seen
before. The players loved it.
Umbrella man, 1974. Romania’s
talented Ilie Nastase was playing American Dick Stockton in a
fourth-round match in 1974 when a few raindrops began to fall. Ever the
showman, Nastase looked around for a prop and thankfully, a member of
the crowd offered him an umbrella, which he then held as he got ready to
return serve.
The Duchess of Kent. As a big
tennis fan, the Duchess presented the trophies for many years, so was
witness to plenty of on-court drama. None more so than in 1993 when she
consoled Jana Novotna after the Czech threw away a leading position
against Steffi Graf. After losing again to Martina Hingis in 1997, the
Duchess reportedly told Novotna: "The third final will be the third time
lucky" and when she won the title the following year, she said: "I was
right."
Cliff Richard, 1996. Until the roof was
built more than a decade later, rain was always the biggest problem as
officials tried to keep fans informed and later, amused. Running out of
ideas, officials asked Cliff Richard to sing. "I started with Summer Holiday,
as a bit of a joke. It was totally acapella, which has its advantages –
it's impossible to stay out of key for a start," Richard said. But the
real star turn came when Pam Shriver rallied her fellow players,
including Martina Navratilova, to act as backing singers.
The Bjorn Borg fanatics, 1973. When
a young Borg arrived at Wimbledon for the first time, with his long
blond hair, hysteria erupted. “There were girls everywhere,” the Swede
recalled. “There were girls on the way to the practice court, girls by
the match court, and girls in the lobby of my hotel." It got so bad that
the following year the secretary of the All England Club wrote to the
heads of the local girls' schools asking them to keep their pupils under
closer control.
The Royal Box celebrity love-in. In
recent years, the Royal Box, which was established in 1922 and was
generally reserved for royals and dignitaries, has opened its seats to
the celebrity culture. The country’s best sportsmen and women are often
invited together on one day, while on other occasions the great and the
good from stage and screen can be found gazing out. Times may have
changed but the rule about women not wearing hats because they obscure
the vision of others behind, still stands.
James Bond. Former
James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan enjoys tennis and was in the crowd
during the 2007 semi-final between Justine Henin and Marion Bartoli. His
presence was spotted by Bartoli, who was a big fan and after her upset
win over Henin, she invited him back to watch the final against Venus
Willams. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it and Bartoli lost, but
Brosnan did send flowers and a letter to the locker room.
