Flower power and great showers: Wimbledon casts spell on players, fans

LONDON: For Daniil Medvedev, it's seeing the flowers arranged in perfect symmetry while Cameron Norrie reckons it's worth turning up just to use the showers.

A world away from the mayhem of the US Open and the gruelling clay-court epics of Roland Garros, Wimbledon is still casting spells even if some of its traditions often leave players perplexed.

"The first day you come, it's like, 'Wow, this must be the best place in the world'," said world No 3 Medvedev, a former champion in New York, where the atmosphere could not be more different.

If the US Open often resembles WrestleMania, the All England Club is more like a bridge club.

"Every flower seems to be in the right order, the right colour," added Medvedev, the often eccentric Russian who was forced to miss last year's tournament due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian players.

"The first day you always say, 'Wow, that's the best tournament'. The only bad thing, when you lose, you go crazy. You're like, 'No, I played so bad'. That's why I want to try to make it even a happier place for me."

British No 1 Cameron Norrie uses the facilities as much as he can, even during the dark winter months when the sprawling grounds, tucked away in suburban south-west London, can be eerily quiet.

"The food is so good here, even like outside of the tournament," said Norrie, a semi-finalist in 2022.

"I just got my membership, so it was cool to use that. It's such a nice club. It's almost worth coming here just to have a shower - the showers they have are so good."

British women's No 1 Katie Boulter described the All England Club as a "place I can call home ... it's truly special".

Denmark's Holger Rune, the world No 6, hailed the tournament as "clean and beautiful, it has another vibe, super