Carlos Alcaraz rushes over to help ill spectator as record-breaking heat takes toll on Wimbledon match
Wimbledon began on Monday with its hottest opening day in history, as temperatures at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club got up to around 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
While conditions for the athletes were atop the concern list, Carlos Alcaraz, the two-time defending men’s singles champion, made sure patrons at Centre Court were also taken care of in the heat.
During his four-and-a-half-hour match against 38-year-old Fabio Fognini, play was suspended after a spectator fell ill due to the heat.
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Carlos Alcaraz hits a forehand against Fabio Fognini during Wimbledon 2025 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. (Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)
Alcaraz was quick to help the cause, grabbing a water bottle near his bench and running it over to the spectator in question. A member of the Wimbledon security also brought over an umbrella to help shade the person.
The BBC reported that the air temperature on the grounds reached 32.2 degrees Celsius (90.1 degrees Fahrenheit) around 4 p.m. BST. The previous record during Wimbledon's opening day was 29.3 degrees Celsius in 2001.
Play resumed in the last set, which was in Alcaraz’s favor, 2-0, after breaking Fognini in the second game. He took the final set, 6-1, and let out a big celebration that might have had some relief sprinkled in there.
Carlos Alcaraz passed a bottle of water to assist with an ill spectator during his first-round match against Fabio Fognini. (Rob Newell - CameraSport)
This match wasn’t expected to be long, as Alcaraz, fresh off a French Open victory over Jannik Sinner, was supposed to handle Fognini easily in the first round.
However, his career-best 19th straight victory was a marathon, as the