A quirky and at times chaotic edition of Wimbledon continues, with one fan scolded by an umpire on Wednesday after popping a champagne bottle cork onto the court.
The incident occurred during a men’s doubles match, as Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash played fellow Briton Henry Patten and Finland’s Harri Heliovaara in a quarter-final on No 2 Court.
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With Glasspool and Cash trailing 3-2 in the first set, the former was about to strike the ball on his serve when a popping sound was heard in the stands.
Glasspool’s serve went into the net, with one ballkid retrieving the ball and another stepping onto court to retrieve another item: the cork from a champagne bottle.
Glasspool did not get a second chance at a first serve, but he did make his second serve and win the point, moving into a 30-0 lead with partner Cash.
After the point, the female umpire addressed the crowd, saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, when you open your champagne bottles, please do not pop the cork onto the court. Thank you.”
🗣️ "Ladies and gentlemen, when you open your champagne bottles please do not pop the cork onto the court" 😳
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 9, 2025
Champagne cork drama at #Wimbledon 🍾 pic.twitter.com/sYPxTsdCI6
While Pimm’s is the most famous drink of choice for Wimbledon-goers, champagne is often consumed in the crowd, too.
The unusual incident is the latest in a tournament full of curious happenings. On Sunday, the electronic line calling system failed to call an error and cost Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova a point, and it failed again during Taylor Fritz’s win on Tuesday, randomly calling “out” in the middle of a rally.
On Monday, Mirra Andreeva failed to realise she had won her match against Emma Navarro, and later that day, Grigor Dimitrov was forced to retire from his clash with Jannik Sinner while leading the world No 1 by two sets to love. Earlier in that match, Sinner fell and sustained his own injury, which could affect him in his quarter-final on Wednesday.
