All play stopped on Wimbledon outside courts after consistent rain on day two
By Ellie Ng, PA
All play has been stopped on outside courts at Wimbledon after a grey afternoon of consistent rain.
The Referee’s Office announced that 69 matches have been cancelled over the course of Tuesday afternoon, with the games suspended by rain on Courts Two to 18 unable to be played on those courts.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) confirmed that tickets bought for Courts Two and Three as well as grounds passes bought before 5pm will receive a full refund.
The Princess of Wales took shelter under an umbrella as showers poured down on Court 18 where she was watching British number one Katie Boulter.
She then moved to the royal box at Wimbledon’s Centre Court where she was welcomed with applause.
Kate chatted with former US Open winner Emma Raducanu in between watching matches.
In a video posted by the MailOnline, the princess reminisced on queueing up for Wimbledon with family.
“We would be there at the crack of dawn, maybe not overnight but at the crack of dawn,” Kate told the tennis star.
Chatting about Raducanu’s training, the princess went on: “I bet you’re itching, especially when this is all going on around you.”
Kate is the patron of the Lawn Tennis Association and regularly attends Wimbledon.
Former champion Roger Federer was also welcomed to the box on Centre Court.
He took a seat next to the princess, who stood clapping as the 41-year-old arrived at the scene of his eight titles for the first time since he retired last September.
British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was imprisoned in Iran for six years, sat behind them.
They joined spectators in watching Elena Rybakina, the defending women’s champion, begin her title defence against American Shelby Rogers.
Both women were wearing dark undershorts during the game after Wimbledon adjusted its all-white clothing policy this year.
The move to allow competitors to wear coloured undershorts was made to help reduce period anxiety.
An all-British clash took place after the women’s match, with Andy Murray victorious over fellow Briton Ryan Peniston.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe met Murray in December last year and recalled watching him win Wimbledon in 2016 from solitary confinement, saying he offered a “connection” to her life outside prison and an “escape” from her six-year detention.
Wimbledon saw the highest attendance on day one of the tournament since 2015, organisers said.
According to the AELTC, 42,815 people attended the championships on Monday, which means there were over 6,000 more spectators than last year when 36,603 people visited.
Michelle Dite, operations director for the AELTC, told reporters that 11,500 people gained entry to the grounds via the queue on Monday.
She added: “We had our highest attendance at the championships on day one since 2015 yesterday.”
On Tuesday morning, fans in the queue were optimistic about their chances of watching the second day of the tournament after hold-ups at security frustrated spectators on Monday.
On day one, some spectators who had visited Wimbledon in previous years said the queue was the “worst” they had seen.
Organisers said extra checks – put in place over concerns about protests – were to blame for the slow queue.
A group of friends who arrived to queue for day two at 10am said the queue seemed less busy on Tuesday.
Joanne Price (48) from Swansea, told the PA news agency: “Yesterday it was way busier than today. When I got here yesterday morning it was massive.”
Thomas Hoeg-Jensen (59) from Copenhagen, has queued for Wimbledon many times and told PA there were far fewer tents pitched up on Monday night compared with previous years.
He said: “Other years when we showed up at the same time we got (queue number) 500 or 600. We got 70 this time.
“Maybe because of the weather, people saw it was going to rain today.”
Nicola Yeadon (40) from Liverpool, got to the queue just before 5am.
She told PA: “We were reading all the tweets from yesterday. We’ve done it for a few years and so far it’s the same.”
She added: “We’re waiting to get to the security bit.”
Ms Yeadon was queueing with her mother, Val Ormerod (69), and sister, Clare Ormerod (37), both also from Liverpool.
All three were braced for rain with “brollies and macs” at the ready.
Karim Charania, from London, arrived to start queueing outside Wimbledon at 1am on Tuesday.
Asked how the queue had been, the 29-year-old pharmacist told PA: “Initially we were going to come at 4am or 5am but we heard that the queue was a bit crazy (yesterday) so we were like, ‘let’s go a bit earlier to make sure we get in’.”
He said he was not put off by Monday’s queue chaos, adding: “I guess it was the first day so you expect some teething issues.”
The club’s chief executive, Sally Bolton, told reporters on Monday that security arrangements had been boosted after climate change group Just Stop Oil (JSO) disrupted the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, the Gallagher Premiership rugby final at Twickenham and the World Snooker Championship.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman will hold talks on Wednesday with senior sporting figures and police leaders on protecting Wimbledon and other events this summer from disruptive protests.
Event organisers and national sporting bodies will meet Ms Braverman and Sports Secretary Lucy Frazer to discuss the JSO and Animal Rising groups.
Ms Bolton told journalists that security measures included a “100% bag search” and “selective body search” at all gates – the latter of which will be conducted “on the basis of intelligence”.
Chalk dust or powder substances have been banned this year. They were not listed as prohibited items in 2022.
The championships will run until July 16.