I couldn’t face standing in the Wimbledon queue for first day of championships so I brought a SOFA to sit on
WIMBLEDON fans have been queuing for the first day of the championships – with some even bringing a sofa so they can eat strawberries in style.
The competition kicks off today with superfans having lined up for days to get in on the action.
And some tennis-lovers were savvy enough to bring in an entire sofa.
The group of pals took apart the pink velour two-seater before carrying it into the grounds.
After making it through security, they put it back together before enjoying strawberries and cream as they eagerly await the action today.
Chris, one of the men in the group, said: “We all live together in South London, about 30 mins away by car.
“We’ve been before, but tickets are getting harder to get so we wanted to come prepared this year.
“We were planning our queue experience and one of my housemates had the idea to bring [the sofa] along because you can take it apart and put it together again and we can queue in comfort.
“We are a bit worried about the rain and hope we can get it back at the end.”
First in line for tickets were Julia Barker, 47, and hubby Nickie, 54, who flew over from Dublin on Friday night to stand in line.
Their son Dan, 23, who now lives in London, joined them to wait more than 50 hours to get prized Centre Court tickets.
Dan said: “We assumed we were in the wrong place but then we realised it was because we were first.”
Katie Boulter and Cameron Norrie will head home fans’ hopes.
Brits Dan Evans, Katie Swan, Jodie Burrage, Harriet Dart, Liam Broady and Jan Choinski all play first matches today with Katie, Cameron and Andy Murray beginning their bids tomorrow.
Norrie, who reached the semi-finals last year, said he “can’t wait” to get started.
Boulter said she was planning to put her “heart on line”.
She added: “I love to have that feeling when you go out and the crowd is roaring. Hopefully I can use that.”
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The weather is set to be sunny with a few showers for the first day before heavier rain threatens to move in tomorrow.
Punters will have to shell out £11.70 for a Pimm’s on Henman Hill but a bumper crop of strawberries has kept the price of a punnet to £2.50.
Wimbo spot
Ball boys and girls, all from local schools and aged 15, have been told not to intervene if eco-protesters break onto court during play and disrupt matches.