‘A parallel universe’ – thousands queue for Wimbledon opening day

Wimbledon 2025

Dates: 30 June-13 July Venue: All England Club

Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app.

The sight of thousands of people queuing in the hope of gaining entry to the grounds is one of the most celebrated quirks of Wimbledon, a tournament renowned for its strong ties to tradition.

While the influence of technology increases in sport, with this the first Championships without the presence of line judges, the sense of community and camaraderie apparent in the queue continues to not only endure, but thrive.

Despite long waits – those at the front of the queue arrived as early as noon on Friday to claim their spot – and soaring temperatures before the first day of action at SW19, there are few grumbles of discontent with the process as more than 10,000 people arrived at Wimbledon Park before the first day of play.

“It’s just nice to be able to take time out of everything else. It’s like being in a parallel universe,” says Vicki Broad, from Neath in Wales, who along with husband Nigel are first in this year’s queue.

“We’ve met people from all over the world, just chatting away and getting to know people.

“It’s a community of people, all with a common goal. There are never any problems in the queue, the stewards run it so well.

Queuing for access to the grounds and the limited show court tickets available – 500 tickets are available for Centre Court, Court One and court two – usually begins in Wimbledon Park the night before each day’s play.

Before the opening day, however, eager fans get into position as much as a couple of days before.

Entry is permitted until the 42,000 capacity is reached and the All England Club advised people to stop travelling once the queue exceeded 10,000 on Monday morning.

Linda Jacobs flew in from Houston, Texas on Thursday night with her friend Aleta to arrive second in this year’s queue, after being fifth last year.

“If you’re going to fly that far, you want to make sure you get a really wonderful ticket!” said Jacobs.

Being able to watch a specific player offers huge motivation for many in the queue.

Jorge, visiting with friends from Madrid, said: “We were here last year to watch Carlos [Alcaraz] in the first round and our motivation for queueing was to see him play on Centre Court on the opening day.

“It’s an incredible experience, very unique, obviously. Camping here just to get tennis tickets I think is something that you can only do here in Wimbledon.

The days of queuing for tickets are long behind perhaps the most famous fans in tennis – Jannik Sinner’s faithful Carota Boys.

The group of childhood friends from Turin have regularly attended the world number one’s matches over the past two years dressed as carrots, after Sinner once ate one during a match in 2019.

For Wimbledon this year they will have their own watch-along show in Italy alongside players and celebrities – but that will change should Sinner reach the final and potentially contest another epic major final against Carlos Alcaraz.

“It is something really crazy, it started as just a joke between us as friends and we never thought it could become something this big. Now we are really famous in the tennis world. It’s like we became professional supporters or something like that,” says Alessandro.

“We have a good relationship with Jannik. Sometimes we chat on WhatsApp, sometimes we meet him during the tournaments, one time we played tennis with him.

“He appreciates us because we came out before he became the player he is now, but also we respect the tennis atmosphere – it is something in his style, he is a polite and really humble guy.