Stray champagne cork interrupts play in Wimbledon match ... again!
If you want to get them bottles poppin', don't do it courtside.
We're poppin' on the grass, like a blizzard. A flying champagne cork has once again caused a humorous interruption in play during a match at Wimbledon.
With Chinese qualifier Zhuoxuan Bai about to serve at deuce in the sixth game of the opening set against Great Britain's Harriet Dart on Tuesday, eagle-eyed chair umpire Fergus Murphy noticed that the stray cork on the playing surface. After he instructed a ball girl to remove the debris, Murphy set about delivering a gentle reminder to spectators to control their libations.
"Ladies and gentlemen, maybe we should do that on the changeovers. Open bottles on the changeovers," he said, with a deadpan delivery that drew chuckles from the crowd.
But if you think you've heard a scolding like that before, it's because you have—despite rules from the All England Club that discourage bringing unopened bottles of bubbly, which can set you back between £90-100 if you choose to imbibe at the tournament, courtside.
Twelve months ago, for example, Australian umpire John Blom admonished the Court 3 crowd during a third-round match between Mirra Andreeva and Anastasia Potapova to not pop their bottles "as players are about to serve," and four years before that, another flying cork triggered a let call in a match between Benoit Paire and Jiri Vesely.
To Dart's credit, the interruption didn't distract her. The 27-year-old Londoner eased through a 6-4, 6-0 victory to reach the second round for the fourth year in a row.
"I thought it was a leaf or something," she said post-match. "I had no clue what it was. I think I was just in my own little world, in my own bubble."
Pun intended?