Clare Balding forced to make live BBC apology to angry Novak Djokovic viewers
BBC Wimbledon presenter Clare Balding was forced to apologise to viewers after the channel lost pictures halfway through Novak Djokovic's clash with Dan Evans on Thursday afternoon.
The seven-time Wimbledon champion cruised to victory against his British opponent on Centre Court, winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 in a dominant straight sets triumph. The Serbian star will now face compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic in the third round of the men's singles on Friday, with another Grand Slam win in his sights.
But while those tuning in on the BBC were treated to watching Djokovic, by his own admission, "at he top of [his] game", they were left fuming as they were forced to miss an entire game towards the end of the second set.
As Evans began serving at the start of the seventh game of the set, the BBC's pictures turned away from the action on Centre Court with viewers instead shown a general view of tennis fans milling around the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
The pictures then cut out completely, with the screen turning grey and then blue for a few seconds, before cutting to the hundreds of fans assembled on 'Murray Mound' to watch the action.
While this was happening, viewers could hear what was going on in the match between Djokovic and Evans, but couldn't see anything as the British star won what would prove to be his fifth and final game of the afternoon.
In total, the disruption lasted for nearly three-and-a-half minutes, with fans taking to social media to voice their frustration over the technical glitch.
"Thanks for making us miss a whole game of the Djokovic/Evans match during set two," wrote one. "What the hell happened to the on court pictures!? I don't pay my extortionate TV license bill for that!!"
Another added: "Anyone watching the monitors? No pictures on BBC1 or BBC2. No apology from commentators."
Meanwhile, a third wrote: "Come on BBC, sort your pictures out."
After Djokovic claimed the 99th win of his Wimbledon career with a ruthless third set performance, Balding took the opportunity to apologised to viewers for the issues which had occurred nearly 45 minutes earlier.
"Apologies for the technical issues we had earlier which meant that you lost pictures for a few moments," said the BBC presenter.
"[It is] just beyond our control, but we're trying to fix it and it does at least mean we can continue to show you live tennis, and we will certainly do that."
Speaking after his victory, Djokovic said: "A Brit in Britain is never easy to face. He is… 'tricky' is not a great word but he is a good quality player that possesses a lot of talent, a great touch.
"He can cause you trouble if you are not on top of your game, which I think I was from the very beginning. I knew I was preparing well. I knew what I needed to do and executed perfectly."
As his self-confidence drew laughter from the crowd, he added: "That was not for me, it was for my coach! I was just sending him a message in case he didn't see it well."
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