Bad bottle service: Fan’s uncorking disturbs play

LONDON — Tens of hundreds of champagne bottles are opened at some level of Wimbledon per annum, but Sunday, one chair umpire courteously asked patrons to preserve them corked, at least till the gamers on court docket had served.

As circulate got underway between Anastasia Potapova and Mirra Andreeva on Court docket 3, one fan decided to designate Middle Sunday by uncorking a bottle of champagne that burst the bubble within the third-spherical contest between the two Russians.

“Girls folk and gentlemen, please, even as you is likely to be opening a bottle of champagne, invent no longer end it as the gamers are about to attend,” Australian umpire John Blom talked about over the microphone.

Potapova, who used to be about to attend, stopped to listen to the announcement before nodding her head in approval with a smile, amid scattered applause.

In 2019, a identical announcement used to be made by an umpire when a champagne cork flew onto the court docket at some level of a match between Benoit Paire and Jiri Vesely.

The All England Club’s stipulations of entry to the grounds declare that “all corked bottles, including bottles of champagne and dazzling wine, desires to be opened before being taken into the stands of any court docket.”