Wimbledon recap: Pride in London brings few rainbows to All England Club

New York Times

05-07-2025

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Welcome to the Wimbledon briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.
On day six, it was Pride day in London, a tennis star's patience was rewarded and the Americans made the most of July 4 weekend.
More than 30,000 people took part in London's annual Pride parade Saturday afternoon in the city center. Thousands more lined the streets in celebration of the capital's biggest LGBTQ+ event.
The scene at Wimbledon, which takes in views of central London from the top of 'Henman Hill,' was a little different.
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There is no organized Pride celebration at the All England Club, as a spokesperson confirmed in a statement sent to The Athletic. It was instead 'Sporting Saturday' – an annual celebration of sports people on the middle Saturday of the month. The Royal Box had LGBTQ+ sportspeople like Billie Jean King and Dame Kelly Holmes as guests, but there were no Pride flags and people had to look hard to find any rainbows.
The Australian Open has hosted five Pride Days; the U.S. Open will host its fifth this year and the French Open has held two, making Wimbledon the only major to have not yet formally dedicated a tournament day to Pride celebrations.
On No. 3 Court, Daria Kasatkina, the No. 16 seed, who came out publicly as gay in 2022, was wearing a bracelet with rainbows on it during her 6-2, 6-3 defeat to No. 19 seed Liudmila Samsonova in the third round. Kasatkina defected to Australia from Russia earlier this year, and has spoken out against her former homeland and anti-LGBTQ+ politics in the past.
'I know that, for example, in Australia, they're very active in this case. They are very vocal and supportive,' the 28-year-old, who announced her engagement to figure skater girlfriend Natalia Zabiiako last month, told The Athletic.
'I think that Wimbledon is in general a little bit different,' Kasatkina added.
'The colors they use, it's white, green, and purple and that's pretty much it. But I must say that around the city of London, I can feel the support and I like how this city… I mean, we see the rainbow flags everywhere. So that's nice. We have to accept that Wimbledon is different. They've got their traditions and they follow them. And I don't think there is any sign of disrespect.
'We just got the approval for black shorts (in 2023 to take the stress off women and girls during their periods). It's not much of a place for this kind of thing. They're just very traditional and we have to accept that but overall walking around London I can feel a lot of the support from everywhere, so that's the most important.
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'I don't feel that they [the AELTC] don't want to support. It's just this place, it's only about tennis and strawberries.'
In 2019, there was a Pride panel at the All England Club, with King speaking to young people about her experience of coming out. It was hosted by tennis reporter Nick McCarvel and was one of the first Pride events on site.
'That was an important first step for Wimbledon,' McCarvel said in an interview.
'Pride's evolving and the tennis space is a space that maybe could be catching up a little quicker. But I think we also look at the women who have led the way in tennis. Billie Jean is certainly one of them. Daria Kasatkina continues to be one of them.'
Within the men's game it is a lot different. In December last year, Joao Lucas Reis da Silva became the first active male professional tennis player to come out as gay when he posted a selfie on Instagram with his partner. Bill Tilden, the American star who dominated tennis in the 1920s, never publicly discussed his sexuality outside of his 1948 book, 'My Story: A Champion's Memoirs.' Brian Vahaly, who played in the 2000s and reached a career-high of world No. 57, and Bobby Blair, on tour in the 1980s, came out after they had retired from professional tennis.
'Sports haven't traditionally been a place where people have felt like they can be their full queer selves,' McCarvel said. 'I think of central London and the scenes in Soho and the Pride flags and the fact that it's not reflected today visually here at Wimbledon.'
Lesbian couple Jo Smith and Amelia Pamplin, two tennis fans from Brighton, said it feels like a safe and accepting place here, even without a day to recognise and celebrate the importance of Pride.
'It doesn't feel like there's been any animosity at all at any point,' Pamplin said. 'We've been sitting on the hill and that was fine, I gave her a kiss, everything was fine and normal.'
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'When I think about it and that it's London Pride then I suppose it would be nice to have something like that around here,' Smith said.
Caoimhe O'Neill
Coming back to tennis after giving birth is one of the toughest things to do in sport, but Belinda Bencic continues to thrive back on the WTA Tour.
She is through to the Wimbledon fourth round after a tight three-set win over Jessica Pegula's conqueror, Elisabetta Cocciaretto. It continues a great season for Bencic, on top of winning the Abu Dhabi Open title and reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open too. When the rankings next update, she'll be back in the world's top 30 at a minimum; she could go even higher if she can beat No. 18 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova Monday to reach the quarterfinals.
Bencic returned to tennis in October, ranked No. 1213, having given birth to her daughter, Bella, six months earlier.
She did so at an ITF W75 event in Hamburg, Germany, on the lowest rung of professional tennis. She played a couple more such events before the year was out, reaching the final in Angers, France. 'I'm really confident about getting back to where I was and even better,' she said during a video interview in December after playing those events.
Bencic has made good on that self-belief, reaching the fourth round at two majors and then winning a 500-level title.. She missed the French Open with injury, but she attributes her success at the sport's premier events this year to the hard yards she put in at the back end of 2024.
'This is the way I like to go because I feel like I have to build up,' she said in a news conference Saturday. 'I cannot just go straight into it. I gain more confidence with playing more matches.
'I don't see the point of coming back and losing your first three rounds, and then you're not able to get match play. [It's important] to have that match play and then feel more confident, going step by step up to the level that you've been. This is the way for me, and I don't care if people are surprised or not. This is just our plan.'
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She insisted that managing this kind of comeback is a very personal thing, but in so far making one of the hardest things in tennis look miraculously straightforward, Bencic's lower-tier tournament strategy may be a replicable one.
Charlie Eccleshare
Perhaps it's fitting that America found some success on July 4 weekend.
As Grand Slams go, this Wimbledon hasn't been great for those representing the stars and stripes. Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, the No. 2 and 3 seeds, left in the first round. Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe were out in the second.
Madison Keys, Sofia Kenin, Danielle Collins and Brandon Nakashima lost in the third. Saturday, Nakashima, the No. 29 seed, won the first set and held leads in the second and third against Italy's Lorenzo Sonego, but ultimately lost a five-hour match in a tiebreak. Iga Świątek dispatched Collins in a ruthlessly patient 6-2, 6-3 win.
Just two of the eight American women who were seeded are still alive. Six American men were seeded, and two of them have made it too.
Navarro came back from a set down to beat Krejčíková, the defending champion.
Amanda Anisimova is by far the highest seed in her quarter and has the most fearsome backhand on the planet.
Taylor Fritz has showed why he is top five in the world: he is a competitor. It's how, two points away from defeat in the first round, he made it through against the biggest server in the game, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Ben Shelton is still figuring out consistency from week to week, but give him the bright lights of a Grand Slam and he shows up.
He will face Sonego in the last 16. He came back from two sets down against the Italian at the French Open in May.
Fritz faces Jordan Thompson, a dangerous Australian who has somehow won three matches with a balky back. Anisimova might have her hands full with Linda Nosková, another big hitter in a match that could turn on who handles their nerves better.
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Navarro is the only one of the four who won't be the favorite in her fourth-round match against Mirra Andreeva, the world No. 7.
'I'm super pumped to be where I'm at,' she said after beating Krejčíková. These are the days and the moments that you have to appreciate and enjoy because they are fleeting. It's not going to be like this forever.'
Matt Futterman
Novak Djokovic has been looking ominous as he eases into this tournament. But what about spectacular and ominous?
'In all his years at Wimbledon, he won't have played many finer rallies than that!' 🤩
Brilliant entertainment on Centre Court 👏👏👏#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/FFnSXR3Y1F
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 5, 2025
🎾 Men's singles, 12 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+
Andrey Rublev (14) vs. Carlos Alcaraz (2)
Alcaraz has mostly survived, rather than thrived at Wimbledon 2025. For Andrey Rublev, his second-week run is redemptive, after a first-round meltdown here last year that took him to a dark place.
🎾 Women's singles, 11 a.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+
Women's singles: Linda Nosková (30) vs. Amanda Anisimova (13)
Two of the purest ball-strikers on the WTA Tour face each other on a fast court. This should, simply put, be cinema.
Tell us what you noticed on the sixth day…