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Despite the excitement among the fans who made it to see the likes of Novak Djokovic and Sir Andy Murray in action, not all of them were happy about the new system for downloading tickets on their mobile phones.
Lengthy queues built up outside the club’s ticket allocation office, with some left furious that they were unable to obtain a paper ticket for the first time in tournament history. Caroline Abrahams, the charity director at Age UK, was among those to criticise the set-up which “automatically rules out many older people”.
Graham Archer, 76, who has been coming to Wimbledon from Burnham-on-Sea since the 1970s, added that he had paid £75 ($137) for centre court tickets, but encountered “endless problems” with downloading the right version on his phone. “You just wouldn’t believe how complicated it all is,” he said.
Djokovic, 34, the reigning champion, swept aside Jack Draper after the British 19-year-old had raised hopes of an upset by winning the opening set.
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Meanwhile, as far as Wimbledon organisers are concerned, there is no suggestion that any players are planning to “take the knee” in the coming days like England’s footballers have at Euro 2020.
“Our view is that any player who would wish to do that or be keen to represent any particular issue - our door is open,” said tournament chief executive Sally Bolton. “We’d invite them to come and have a conversation with us about how they might best do that.”
Briton Fran Jones, 20, a trailblazer in the sport due to a rare condition that has left her with only six fingers and seven toes, makes her senior Wimbledon debut on Tuesday against 17-year-old US sensation Coco Gauff.
The Telegraph, London









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