The hottest Wimbledon opening day ever recorded, as temperatures planned to reach 34C | British weather

Tennis fans faced the hottest start in Wimbledon on Monday while temperatures increased to 32c.

The spectators used fans and umbrellas to cope with the heat while they were lining up to the first hours to watch players, notably Emma Raducanu, the British Women’s No. 1, and the reigning champion, Carlos Alcaraz.

The players were offered ice on the field to help refresh themselves and more than 100 water stations have been strewn on the field of spectators. Temperatures reached a provisional summit of 32 ° C in Heathrow and Kew Gardens in western London on Monday afternoon, exceeding the previous record of 29.3 ° C on the first day of the championships on June 25, 2001, said the Met Office. He added that temperatures should reach 34 ° C Monday and Tuesday.

“The files plunge the ground because we can confirm that this is the hottest start in Wimbledon,” said Met Office spokesperson Marco Petagna. “The really high heat is not ideal conditions for playing, but the temperature will fall at 24 or 25 ° C later this week.”

The world n ° 1 Aryna Sabalenka held a bag of ice against his head during a break in his match against Carson Brantine of Canada in court No. 1.

“We are not used to this kind of temperatures, but we are absolutely ready for this and we are delighted that it is sunny and not wet like last year,” said Sally Bolton, General Manager of All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Strong rains during the first nine days of the championships last year caused a backlog of matches which were to be reprogrammed.

Wimbledon, like the other tennis tournaments, monitors air temperature, surface temperature and humidity for a heat stress reading which allows a 10 -minute break between the third and the fourth set of male matches, or between two and three female games, at temperatures of 30.1c or more. Wimbledon’s hottest day took place on July 1, 2015, when temperatures reached 35.7 ° C.

Bolton said that the 250 boys and girls were racing caps that included neck coverings and using cooling scarves to cope with hot weather. She added that workers through the field would receive regular breaks.

The heat did not prevent fans from flocking to Wimbledon on the day of the opening of the 138th championships, the organizers advising people in the morning not to go to the field to reach the already occupied queue. An announcement to the Earl’s court post in western London around 8:50 am warned travelers that the land was already “in capacity”.

The demonstrators also gathered outside the park, calling for a boycott of the banking partner of Wimbledon, Barclays, links with the War of Israel against Gaza. They kept signs and distributed brochures about the bank’s “sport washing” as they stood near the ball replica that Hind Rajab, five years old, and his family died after he was criticized in Gaza City.

“I think the world continues as if nothing was happening. We eat, drink, go to functions, but at the same time human beings are killed, tortured,” said Lubna, a local resident who held a sign on the street of the central court.

Another, Damian McCarthy, added: “I like tennis, I don’t like genocide, and no one should.”

Barclays said in a statement that he was proud of his partnership with Wimbledon.

He added: “We provide a range of financial services and products to companies providing defense products to the United Kingdom, NATO and its allies.”

Bolton said that Palestinian flags would not be prohibited from the field and that the club still examined its security measures for athletes and spectators. This comes after the Raducanu harasser was prevented from buying tickets for the championships this month in the public voting bulletin.

“What we have seen with the incidents with Emma Raducanu, I think, brings her to mind for people perhaps outside the tennis community, but unfortunately, the reality for particularly female athletes in sport, it is not particularly unusual and so these are the kind of problems with which we are well paid in treatment,” she said.

Two British players climbed in the second round of Wimbledon on Monday afternoon. The 21 -year -old qualifier, Oliver Tarvet, the least classified man in Wimbledon at No. 719, beat Leandro Riedi in Switzerland in two sets, while Sonay Kartal triumphed over Jeļena Ostapenko, the 20th seed.