At Wimbledon, the local Merton Town Council instituted an 11 p.m. curfew for Wimbledon in 2009, the year the Centre Court roof was introduced. The club has accepted that with equanimity, and it has always rejected the lure of split sessions. It is now the only major where the results cannot be compromised by matches that end too late.
Ons Jabeur has good reason to have mixed feelings about Wimbledon and all the pageantry and hoopla that comes with it. She was paralyzed by the pressure of playing a final in the most closely-watched tennis tournament of them all each of the last two years, an indignity she was spared this year when she lost in the third round to Elina Svitolina.
But this is what she said about Wimbledon:
“I feel like when people speak to me when I’m passing by, or practicing, they’re sincere. They want me to win. It’s not like other tournaments, where they say the same words to all the players. ‘I want you to win.’ Then the next one comes, they want them to win, too. . . I feel like I really created a great connection with the crowd here. It’s, like, pure love. Like nothing [false] behind it.”
Now if the All England Club could work on eliminating that lingering mist that passes for rain in London, Wimbledon would be perfect.
