Wimbledon Diary
Elina Svitolina might want to wait to see her favorite singer as the numbers surge through the SW19 gates
Success without styles
Harry Styles’ Concert Karma Theory. Elina Svitolina had tickets to a Harry Styles concert in Vienna last Saturday but couldn’t go because she shattered stereotypes at Wimbledon. Harry Styles took to Instagram and said: “We’ve got four shows left, you’re welcome to any of them.” That number has now dropped to three after the win over Iga Swiatek means Wednesday’s performance in Barcelona fails. Reach the final and Madrid (July 14) goes. Win that thing and Lisbon (18th) also looks shaky leaving only Reggio Emilia (22nd) left to win when rest and recovery allow. We’re just saying that there appears to be an inverse correlation between success in tennis and the chance to experience styles that are based on style rather than substance first hand. And as further proof, Jessica Pegula made it to a Styles concert in Paris during the French Open, lost in the quarterfinals and was beaten on the same stage at Wimbledon on Tuesday. Might matter – who knows?
Blake makes Eubanks big
Former world No. 4 and non-Mercury Music Awards winner James Blake was back in town on Tuesday to take part in the Wimbledon Legends Doubles. He was paired with Lleyton Hewitt, the man who once accused a linesman of ruling in Blake’s favor because both men were black, but Blake has long since neglected that. “He’s still training and playing a lot so I’ll make sure he takes about 80% of the balls,” said Blake, the old charmer, before continuing to gushed about Chris Eubanks, the all-time favorite British middleweight. According to Blake, if Big Chris flashes his smile much longer at SW19 (he plays Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals on Wednesday), his name will be in the spotlight by the US Open. “I hope he enjoys being a superstar because that’s what he’s about,” Blake said. “He could be on the side of a bus, he could be on billboards.” Great thing, though if they want to accommodate it completely, the bus must be a double decker.
Former USA No. 1 James Blake has praised his compatriot Christopher Eubanks who is through to the quarterfinals. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The numbers game of SW19
Confirming what was already clear – the crowds are back at Wimbledon, baby. A total of 293,681 people passed through the gates in the first week of the championship, almost 17,000 more than last year (277,354). That included the biggest opening Monday since 2015 (remember it was so big there was a queue of about 10,000 people who couldn’t get in). The second Monday was a bit disappointing as the total number of participants showed that five people less made it than on the same day last year. Of course, that could be due to a counting error, or maybe just five people in Novak Djokovic’s entourage assuming his match had ended the night before.
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