England on Saturday advanced to the semifinals by beating Sweden as action at Wimbledon took placeGETTY IMAGES
Wimbledon officials have again said that the men's final on Sunday "will start at its traditional time" despite it possibly coinciding with the World Cup final that could include England, according to the AFP. The All England Club has "come under increasing pressure to rethink" its 2:00pm GMT start time for Sunday's men's singles final with the World Cup final "kicking off" at 4:00pm. All England Club CEO Richard Lewis said that there "were no plans to show either Wednesday's semi-final or Sunday's final at the World Cup on Wimbledon's giant TV screen attached to one of the sides of Court One." England on Saturday advanced to the semifinals by beating Sweden "as action at Wimbledon took place." Lewis said, "People followed the football on their devices thanks to modern technology without disturbing other spectators. You can tell when England scored and it was wonderful but we didn't receive any complaints that the enjoyment of tennis had been spoiled." Lewis has "become exasperated by stories that the All England Club has been indifferent to the national wave of affection which has engulfed" England during the World Cup. Lewis said, "We have a very strong public wi-fi signal and it worked brilliantly on Saturday. That indicates that we are supportive of the World Cup and that we are not turning down the signal strength!" (AFP, 7/9). U.K.-based Talksport's Georgie Bingham tweeted, "The arrogance of Wimbledon is really quite staggering. Hang on, let’s ask the world to change the World Cup final" (TWITTER.com, 7/9).
FOOTBALL FRENZY: In London, Stuart Fraser notes while crowd numbers at Wimbledon "have not suffered a significant dip -- Saturday’s attendance reached its capacity of 39,364 -- the football is still causing quite a distraction within the grounds, with the public wifi experiencing a sharp upturn in use." During Saturday's third round match between Simona Halep and Hsieh Su-wei, "shouts of 'come on, England' were heard in the stands" when England-Sweden began at 3:00pm. Cheers "were heard" when England D Harry Maguire scored the opening goal, about the same time that Rafael Nadal "wrapped up a straight-sets victory against Alex de Minaur on Centre Court." Wednesday's England-Croatia semifinal is scheduled for 7:00pm, which means it is "likely that the men’s quarter-finals will have concluded before kick-off" (LONDON TIMES, 7/9). TENNIS.com's Kamakshi Tandon noted during Saturday's England-Sweden game, Centre Court was "not even a third full for the second match of the day between Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka" (TENNIS.com, 7/7). BBC Radio's Eddie Robson: "Apparently the Wimbledon organisers have been in a huff about the World Cup pulling attention away. They could have lifted their archaic rule about not playing on middle Sunday, since there's no football. ... Have play on a day when far more people are free to watch" (TWITTER.com, 7/8).
