"A third world tournament experience with a Gucci Belt; an embarrassing display" - Several hours delay in Wimbledon queuing infuriates tennis fans

Tiring and unyielding queues at Wimbledon have left tennis fans infuriated and in search of answers after waiting hours to watch their favorites in action.

The third Major of the season, Wimbledon, is known to have always attracted massive amounts of people and serves as the oldest event in the sport. From strawberries and cream to athletes performing at their peak in hopes of enshrining their names on the champions list, SW19 is truly one of a kind.

Fans and tennis enthusiasts alike traditionally join the grass-court Slam queue to secure tickets for the event; however, the waiting period this season has been unusually complicated, according to fans.

On Monday, SW19 authorities uploaded a tweet notifying and advising fans to skip the event for the day owing to their grounds being occupied to the maximum capacity. They also added that those already in queue would have to wait several hours for admission.

Following the announcement, fans on Twitter bashed the tournament for being unable to cope with the crowd and criticized them for their sloppy management. One fan notably highlighted the waiting period for admission in SW19 to be well over 6+ hours.

"Today was an embarrassing display of resourcing and organisation. Just abandoned the Queue and spoke to a lady with Q#2000 waiting for 6+ hrs and still not out of Wimbledon Park. Tradition has given way to Farce."

Another fan called the event a "disgrace" and labeled SW19 as a "third world tournament experience with a Gucci belt."

"What a DISGRACE. Flew to London specifically for the tournament, paid accommodation, transport, food, woke up, joined the queue at 6AM, Q#4980, time wasted for nothing. My wife got sick. A "third world tournament experience with a Gucci Belt", that's what Wimbledon 2023 is."

One user recalled their own problems during queuing and placed the blame squarely on Wimbledon's terrible organization.

"Appalling from Wimbledon. I’ve got here the same time for the last 4 Wimbledon’s and have always got in before 11. Nothing about full capacity as people within the first 2000 are not in yet. Barely anyone on courts 4-18 due to terrible organisation," the fan tweeted.

Here are some more reactions by tennis fans:

What is the Wimbledon queue tradition?

Day One: The Championships 2023

'The Queue' for Wimbledon has been the event's long-standing tradition where fans usually sleepover in tents in the vicinity of the All England Club park and later, line up to spectate breath-taking performances.

Supporters often pitch their tent less than a mile away from SW19 before visiting the grasscourt event and on the day of action, they are assigned queue cards that help them identify their place in the queue and to defer from any unruliness.

“It is great because the queue looks after itself and many people come year after year and they know how it works. It is great to have it back. Our job is to get people in, in the right order and make the experience enjoyable."

"People really enjoy being in the queue, so if we can make them happy and get them in quickly, our job is done,” spoke the head steward via ATPTour.com.