Wimbledon 2025: Fabulous Fabio Fognini, Champion Carlos Alcaraz to the fore, Electronic 'Out' heats up tennis

Time of India

15 hours ago

Fabio Fognini returns the ball to Carlos Alcaraz during the first round of Wimbledon. (AP)
London: It's the last Monday of June and the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club throws open the doors to its hallowed courts for the start of the 138th edition of the Wimbledon championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world, at 8 am.
Action starts at 11am sharp at all the outdoor courts (Centre court with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and Fabio Fognini has a later 1.30pm start). Of interest here is that there is no Court 13! Attendance at the end of Day1 topped 40,000 people.
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And what an eventful day it turned out to be. The first championship without line judges saw AI-generated voices calling out the 'out.'
It took a few minutes to get used to an unseen human voice calling out the line calls with the right inflection. No more being thrown out of a tournament for accidentally hitting a line judge like Novak Djokovic at the US Open in 2020. No more screaming and swearing at them like vintage John McEnroe.
And then, as it should, tennis took centre stage. Seeds fell – Daniil Medvedev (No 9 seed); the flamboyant Stefanos Tsitsipas retired and reigning champion, Carlos Alcaraz, just about survived a thrilling five-setter with Italian Fabio Fognini in temperatures that touched 33 degrees at one point.
While everyone loves a good underdog story, nobody, not the spectators, nor the organisers would have wanted the current poster boy of tennis to exit in round 1.
Watched by a packed royal box with David Beckham (Sir David after his recent knighthood) and his mum in the front row and actor Eddie Redmayne in the row behind, for Alcaraz it was not the procession most expected it to be.
Four-and-half hours later, the match was a testimony to the crowd's forever appreciation of the underdog; how to play your last match at Centre Court and how to summon your champion's nous at just the right time to finally close out a match.
Fognini, a contemporary of Federer, Murray and Djokovic, played brilliantly. His ground strokes silken smooth, his anticipation on Alcaraz's serves, early and shot making of the highest order. Sixteen years older than his opponent he looked like he could barely move between the games but between points he was all over the court. Alcaraz, chasing a hat-rick at Wimbledon, seemed uncharacteristically nervous with his game peppered with double faults, poor first serves and plenty of unforced errors.
When it was all over some four-and-half hours later, Fognini got a standing ovation he will remember forever and Alcaraz showed why he's a hugely popular athlete. He stood on the court applauding Fognini and kept pointing towards him egging the crowd to acknowledge the brilliant match he had just played. Not that the crowd needed reminding.
The packed centre court was dressed for an Indian summer – the unrelenting sun on those in seats facing the umpire meant that a spectator fainted leading the match to be paused for a short while.
Flowing calf-length skirts were the dress of choice. While some men were brave enough to turn out in jackets and tie the overpowering heat meant shirt sleeves were the order of the day.
As Wimbledon modernises and moves ahead with rapid technological changes some things stay the same. Press is not to applaud good play! One is censured if you are caught cheering or clapping in the press box. On the outside, open courts, there are just two rows of wooden benches on either side of the court. Of these, two are reserved for the players' coaches and family. Which basically means you have to watch these matches mainly standing.
Rain, sunshine or heat.
And of course, strawberries and cream and Pimm's on the hill.