As soon as Wimbledon 2023 started, he was already out of favor, so there was nowhere else to go. A similar number of unpleasant events will be enough for all four Grand Slam tournaments in the reporting year. After last year’s failure with the non-admission of Russians and Belarusians to the traditional grass tournament, the organizers of the biggest tennis event on tour have deceived even more.
Thousands of ticket queues stretch for almost miles, from morning until late at night tennis fans try to get the coveted tickets, but British bureaucracy takes precedence over common sense.
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It’s all the fault of Just Stop Oil, an eco-activist organization that has flooded much of Europe, fighting to stop mining and investment in fossil fuels. From time to time they go out of their way to disrupt various kinds of cultural and sporting events with dirty little tricks. This time, tennis caught the eye of environmental hooligans. Wimbledon is the hallmark of the entire season. It is prestigious to win on the courts of London, and this event is broadcast to the whole world. What else do you need to attract huge attention from all over the world?
The tournament organizers had to take unprecedented security measures. British tennis fan Becky Deeming told reporters that she queued for more than ten hours to get a ticket. At the same time, such a procedure took no more than half an hour. And even those people who once stood in line for scarce tickets can’t remember any of it. The trick is that security guards naturally check every little thing. The list of items that are prohibited from taking the podium is huge, it includes 19 items (deodorants, sprays, glue, etc.).
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But no matter what the restrictions are, they can always be circumvented. The Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and the Japanese Se Shimabukuro did not have much luck in this regard. During their confrontation, two elderly men ran out of the stands and bombarded the court with puzzle pieces and confetti. In order to remove all this misfortune, I had to stop the game for a while. It turned out that the activist who ran out onto the sports ground is an ordinary teacher from London. This is how the woman explained her act:
“I’m just an ordinary grandmother resisting this government’s policy of issuing new oil and gas licenses. Under normal circumstances, this type of violation would be completely unacceptable, but these are not normal circumstances. We just had the hottest June on record, beating the previous record by almost a full degree! We don’t need a hawk’s eye to realize that our government issuing over 100 new fossil fuel licenses is a very bad move.
Photo Source: Wimbledon Social Media
Forget strawberries and cream, scientists warn of impending food shortages, mass displacement and war. We are facing new pandemics, economic inflation, and increasingly authoritarian governments that will try to quell civil unrest. This is a crisis and it needs a response. I want a secure future not only for my grandchildren, but for all children in the world and for future generations.”
It seemed that after the ruined life of Dimitrov and Shimabukuro, everything should have ended. The deed is done. However, the next victims of agile retirees were women’s tennis pair Cathy Bulter and Daria Saville. Already a retired man, Manchester’s Simon Milner-Edwards, 66, poured confetti and disrupted the match. He got to the point where athletes helped Wimbledon staff clean up the rubbish so they could resume play faster.
Photo Source: Wimbledon Social Media
At the moment, sexually mature hooligans have been detained by the police, but this is little consolation for the tournament organizers. In addition to the antics of local eco-dissidents, the weather also interferes with the event. It rains all day, the volunteers have to unroll and rewind the awning several times to protect the courts from the water. Games are constantly being stopped and rescheduled. In Wimbledon, three days have already passed since the start of the event, and some tennis players have not yet played the first round matches.
