Wimbledon will be one of the only places in England that won’t be showing tonight’s World Cup last-32 knockout match against DR Congo, but that is unlikely to stop the football from creating a buzz around the All England Club.
Two years ago, England’s Euro 2024 shoot-out against Switzerland disrupted play during Novak Djokovic’s match against Alexei Popyrin on Centre Court as fans watched the penalties on mobile phones in the crowd.
Djokovic took the interruption in good humour, pretending to take an imaginary spot-kick while Popyrin put up his hands to mimic a save. And Djokovic will be on Centre Court tonight at around the same time as England kick off against DR Congo in Atlanta, facing Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.
This will be the first Wimbledon to coincide with a men’s World Cup since 2018, when England reached the semi-finals, and the tournament still has strict rules on showing the football inside the grounds.
Although there is nothing the tournament can do to stop fans streaming the matches on their phones, TVs are not allowed to be switched over to show games. In the media centre, blinds used to be drawn to stop spectators from peering through the windows – which now feature frosted glass.
There are 17 World Cup matches that will be on at the same time as Wimbledon play, starting on Monday with the knockout stages and including England’s last-32 match against DR Congo on Wednesday at 5pm.
“I think we should all enjoy the World Cup, but here we are very much focused on the tennis,” said Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club ahead of the start of Wimbledon.
“We recognise that when fans are coming here, they want to watch the tennis. So as we’ve done in the past, we won’t be showing the World Cup on site.”
After the interruption to his match two years ago, Djokovic was left to imagine the noisy prospect of playing on Centre Court while England were involved in an important World Cup knockout match at the same time.
“It would be loud,” he said. “You can sense there’s a buzz going on. People are kind of simultaneously looking at your match and also following their national team. It’s normal. It’s the football fever right now in this four to six weeks.
“We are also part of it. I like football. I follow everything that is going on. Obviously it’s nicer when you’re by the TV than when you’re playing and not everyone is focused on your match. But that’s okay. That’s what it is.”
