Novak Djokovic was in the midst of his Wimbledon encounter with Alexei Popyrin when Centre Court erupted, causing a break in play, as the home crowd celebrated England’s win at the Euros
Novak Djokovic’s clash with Alexei Popyrin on Centre Court at Wimbledon was halted as the crowd celebrated England’s penalty shootout win at Euro 2024.
The Three Lions’ contests have yet to clash with the Grand Slam, but on Sunday evening the two events occurred at the same time and the crowd on Centre Court, many of them English, couldn’t help but cheer despite the usual etiquette being to remain as quiet as possible.
Djokovic was preparing to receive serve in the second set when the crowd broke out into cheers with the umpire taking time out to led the noise die down. Both players quickly clocked what was going on as they smiled at opposite sides of the court.
The Serbian, eyeing another Wimbledon title, even did a fake shot towards his opponent with Popyrin making an attempted save before play eventually got back underway.
Fans in Centre Court, which was playing with the roof closed due to the unreliable weather in south west London, were clocked watching the football on phones as groups huddled around each other. Even those in the Royal Box were keeping tabs on proceedings in Dusseldorf.
England’s clash with Switzerland, which finished 1-1 after 120 minutes, kicked off at 5pm but due to extra-time and penalties ran on until beyond 7.30pm, but which time the third and final match on Centre Court was underway.
The English summer often sees a host of its major sporting events taking place. Any major tournament, be it the Euros or the World Cup, often coincides with Wimbledon’s fortnight. The British Grand Prix also shares a similar date with fans flocking to Silverstone across this weekend.
Gareth Southgate’s England have managed to capture the country with this team as likeable as any in modern times. The manager said after their penalty heroics: “I thought the players were brilliant, it is the best we have played.
“To come from behind and shown character and resilience we did… it isn’t just about playing well.
“It was so brave from Bukayo, he is one of our best and we were never in question he would take one. But we all knew what he went through. Huge performance, huge result and we are still in it.
“We had to be tactically spot on. We are in a third semi-final and it says a lot about the whole group. I thought we had good control.”