Wimbledon diary: crowds are down and Nick Kyrgios wants respect

Yes, it’s only a smattering, but there are empty seats visible at Wimbledon this year. To confirm: this is not what was expected when the grounds were restored to full capacity for the first time in three years. Official numbers from the first day of competition recorded 36,603 on site on Monday, from a potential capacity of 42,000. The Tennis Podcast has reported this was the smallest opening day crowd since 2007. Smatterings were still visible on day two too and, in the case of show courts 2 and 3, a bit more than that.

The Queue also appears visibly down on previous years. Explanations as to why touch on a possible lack of sufficient marketing or the effects of the cost of living crisis. But at £27 for a grounds pass that gets you on to all courts bar four, there is barely a better value ticket this summer. And yes, Sue Barker paid The Diary to say that.

It seems that every Nick Kyrgios utterance is pretty much equal parts inarguable home truth and intractable self-regard. Following his win over Paul Jubb, the Australian offered several examples of the genre not just on the degrees of respect that should be afforded to tennis players and spectators, but also on Andy Murray’s underarm serve. The Scot had applied the tactic against James Duckworth on day one but for Kyrgios, whose trademark it is, the response it received revealed classic anti-Kyrgios bias. “I actually remember the first time I did it, was against Nadal in Acapulco,” he said. “The commentators were like: ‘What’s he done here? It’s so disrespectful.’ Now it’s like: ‘So smart. Andy Murray, so smart.’ Everyone does it now [and] it’s like they’re a genius.”

Day 2 began with a big shock – the departure of Matteo Berrettini from the men’s draw with Covid.