Whether it is plastic beer cups at the Euros or Champagne corks at the Wimbledon Championships, this summer has seen drinking at sports events take centre stage. With the start of Wimbledon on Monday, the inevitable quickly began, as bottles of Champagne were opened during matches at The Championships. Last summer, an umpire had to remind spectators about the etiquette of not loudly popping open bottles of fizz during matches. At the time, the umpire John Blom responded during a match on Court 3 between Anastasia Potapova and Mirra Andreeva, when he heard a pop come from the crowd and announced over the microphone: “Ladies and gentlemen, please, if you’re opening a bottle of Champagne, don’t do it as the player is about to serve. Thank you.”
“Ladies and gentlemen… if you are opening a bottle of champagne, don’t do it as the players are about to serve”
The most #Wimbledon warning ever from umpire John Blom pic.twitter.com/57GBixnM4U — Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 9, 2023 This year, it has gone one step further, with the umpire Fergus Murphy stopping play as Chinese qualifier Zhuoxuan Bai was about to serve in the sixth game of the opening set against Great Britain’s Harriet Dart yesterday. Changeovers Impressively, Murphy had noticed a cork had landed on the playing surface and instructed one of the ball girls to remove it. He then offered a similar rebuke to Blom last year. “Ladies and gentlemen, maybe we should do that on the changeovers. Open
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