After shaky start, Wimbledon carries on

Open this photo in gallery:

The gates of Wimbledon reopened for the first time in two years on Monday and as thousands of tennis fans streamed onto the gleaming grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the pandemic seemed almost like a distant memory.

“It’s fantastic,” said Richard Oscroft, who arrived with his wife, Annabelle, and two young children, Harry and Imogen. “I used to come here all the time as a child. We managed to get tickets and had to come.”

The Oscrofts took their place with thousands of others on ‘Henman Hill,’ a rise of grass outside Centre Court where the action inside is broadcast on a giant screen. Harry slurped on ice cream while his father polished off a beer. Not that far away the lineup for strawberries and cream snaked along a walkway where men in dapper jackets and brightly coloured pants sipped tall glasses of Pimm’s.

But COVID-19 was never that far away; not with Britain facing a surge of infections of the Delta variant or Wimbledon officials imploring everyone to wear a face mask and carry proof that they’ve either been vaccinated or tested negative for the virus.

Before the first ball was even struck, two players – Britain’s Johanna Konta and Frederik Nielsen of Denmark – had to leave the tournament after they came in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Government rules require 10 days of self-isolation for anyone who is infected or who comes in contact with someone who has the virus.

Wimbledon’s chief executive, Sally Bolton, expressed sadness at the decision, especially since Konta is Britain’s top female player. But she said the tournament had no choice and that if a similar situation arose before the finals or semi-finals, the player would have to leave. “In terms of when that circumstance may or may not arise during the rest of the tournament, the rules are the same,” Bolton told reporters on Monday. “And that’s not about us kicking anybody out of the tournament, that’s the need for that player to withdraw because they have to isolate.”

The pandemic wasn’t the only dilemma for tournament organizers. When Monday morning dawned, a steady drizzle forced the postponement of more than a dozen matches, including the duel between Canadian Denis Shapovalov and Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Despite the showers and gloomy skies, the mood in the grounds was almost festive as fans sat patiently and watched the rain dribble on the neatly covered courts. Even the announcer’s dutifully updates every 30 minutes – forlornly signalling a further delay – provoked only the slightest booing.

When play finally started on all the courts, the hometown spectators got an immediate thrill as British teenager Jack Draper took the opening set from defending champion Novak Djokovic in the first match on Centre Court.

The excitement didn’t last long as Djokovic quickly recovered and went on to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, smashing 25 aces along the way. “I think I probably had one of the best serving performances that I can recall on any surface,” the 19-time Grand Slam winner said after the match.

There was drama, too, when Frances Tiafoe of the U.S., ranked 57th in the world, took down third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Tsitsipas had been among the bookies’ favourites to win it all, especially after his stirring run at the French Open, which saw him lose in the final to Djokovic after taking a two-set lead. But Tiafoe was undaunted even though he’d never beaten a top-five opponent in 11 previous attempts. “I woke up this morning like, ‘Yeah, I’m beating Stefanos,’ ” he said afterward. “It happened. I think believing it when nobody else does is so big.”

Tiafoe’s next opponent will be Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, who beat Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 on Monday. “He’s a super-dangerous, athletic player … and we saw that [Monday],” said Pospisil, 31, who caught glimpse’s of Tiafoe’s match. “I’ll have to play my best for sure if I want to win that one.” The Canadian does have a decent track record at Wimbledon, having made the quarter-finals in 2015 and taking the doubles crown a year earlier.

Pospisil’s play on Monday brought a smile to the face of Chase McCarthy, a Toronto native who sat courtside in the early evening sunshine with his girlfriend Grace Wayne. “It’s great to be here,” McCarthy said between cheers for Pospisil. “Wimbledon is such an experience and it’s a quintessentially British thing to do in summer.”