Despite this being the first time since 2019 that Wimbledon matches have been staged in front of capacity crowds but the world’s best tennis players have often been greeted by rows and rows of empty seats.
Millions of desperate local fans usually compete with international enthusiasts to get their hands on Wimbledon tickets.
The chance to enter the 5.4-hectare, leafy-green grounds of the All England Club and see players such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and the Williams sisters battle it out for the most famous trophies in tennis has attracted growing numbers in recent years.
Pre-COVID tournament attracted half a million
In 2019, the last championships held before the COVID-19 pandemic, a total of 500,397 spectators attended the then 13-day tournament, the second-highest in Wimbledon history.
On the opening day of this year’s competition, however, even the presence of Britain’s first women’s Grand Slam champion in 45 years failed to attract a full house on Centre Court.
When US Open champion Emma Raducanu walked onto the lush green carpet for the first time last Monday, the half-full stadium that greeted her arrival was not what she, or organisers, would have expected.
So why are there not enough spectators?
With 42,000 spectators allowed into the grounds at any one time, not including ticket re-sales, 256,808 fans attended the championships over the first six days in 2019.
In contrast, 237,927 spectators filed in through the gates over the corresponding days of this year’s event.
The banks of empty seats, along with the decrease of almost 19,000 fans, does not make great headlines for an event that is considered to be one of the highlights of the British summer — especially when there are thousands of disgruntled television viewers complaining they unsuccessfully tried to buy tickets.
Loading
Loading
Loading
Many of the empty seats have been visible around the Royal Box, which is usually reserved for corporate guests or members of the All England Club and the Lawn Tennis Association.
In previous years, punters waited anxiously to discover if they had managed to get their hands on a ticket after throwing their names into the mix in a public ballot.
This year, however, there was no ballot, as those who had secured tickets for the cancelled 2020 championships were offered seats for the same day and court this year.
Technical issues impact re-sales
How many of those fans snapped up tickets for this year’s tournament has not been made public but it has meant tickets for 2022 have been hard to come by.
Organisers were also frustrated on the first two days of the tournament when technical issues impacted re-sales as the original Centre Court ticket holders decided to leave the grounds.
The glitch led to long queues at the re-sale hubs and empty seats inside the arena.
Wimbledon organisers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters
This news is republished from another source. You can check the original article here