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Foulling claims levelled at Wimbledon tennis fans

Foulling claims levelled at Wimbledon tennis fans

Independenta day ago
Wimbledon fans queuing overnight for tickets are allegedly defecating and urinating in Horse Close Wood, a section of nearby Wimbledon Park, according to local campaigner Simon Wright.
Mr Wright, from the Save Wimbledon Park residents' group, claims to have found human faeces and used tissues, raising concerns about health risks and a lack of respect for the historic woodland.
He stated that discreet signage urging visitors to respect the woods has proven ineffective, and he has observed individuals using the area as a toilet.
A spokesperson for the All England Club said they have not seen any evidence to substantiate the claims but confirmed that stewards regularly patrol the area to ensure it is well maintained.
Concerns about sanitation and limited toilet facilities for queuers have been raised previously, with similar complaints reported in 2015 and 2022.
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Super Sonay! Emma Raducanu's great childhood rival - and daughter of kebab shop owner - steps out of her shadow with a big win
Super Sonay! Emma Raducanu's great childhood rival - and daughter of kebab shop owner - steps out of her shadow with a big win

Daily Mail​

time44 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Super Sonay! Emma Raducanu's great childhood rival - and daughter of kebab shop owner - steps out of her shadow with a big win

They grew up as tennis rivals, fiercely playing against each other at the National Tennis Centre in 2011 as nine-year-olds. But breakout star Sonay Kartal looks to be finally stepping out from under the shadow of her famous friend Emma Raducanu as she soared into the last 16 at SW19 for the first time yesterday. The 23-year-old wildcard eased past French qualifier Diane Parry with a flawless straight set 6-4, 6-2 victory. Meanwhile British No 1 Ms Raducanu was in action against number one seed Aryna Sabalenka on Centre Court last night. She was again cheered on by former tennis prodigy Benjamin Heynold, 24, with rumours of a possible romance between the pair continuing to spread. Ms Kartal said it was an 'honour' to be one of three Britons still standing at Wimbledon – despite a record start at SW19 for the nation with 23 home players – after Cameron Norrie also booked his place in the fourth round by defeating Mattia Bellucci in straight sets. Coming from humble beginnings in Brighton where her parents ran a kebab shop, rising star Ms Kartal is now on the brink of becoming a millionaire. If she makes the quarter finals she will have clocked up £400,000 in prize money – she has already pocketed £240,000 by making the fourth round, bringing her total career earnings to £972,000. Ms Kartal, who is 5ft 4in tall, vowed to come out swinging in her next match against the World No 50, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, tomorrow. Talking about how she would handle the pressure, Ms Kartal said: 'I enjoy it. I think it's an honour. Obviously, you've got a lot of attention on you, it means you're doing good things. 'I feel like I'm going to go out on the court in the next round kind of with nothing to lose at the minute. 'I'm going to go swinging. I think the pressure that I'll feel is the pressure I will be putting on myself just wanting to perform as best as I can.' Ms Kartal said her 'closest family' was in her box on Court One cheering her on while her 'club members that I've known since I was six' were in the stands. 'That was super special,' she said. 'I couldn't necessarily see them, but I could hear a lot of familiar voices in the crowd, which was definitely nice.' Born in Sidcup, Kent, to Clare and Muharrem Kartal, she had a modest upbringing in Brighton where her father owned two Turkish restaurants. She started playing when she was six by following her brother to a training session after an invitation from a coach who ate in their father's restaurant. Earlier this week the player spoke out about how her family could not afford a full-time coach and that she was forced to go to some of the tournaments herself while her coaches undercharged her to help out. The British No 3 said: 'Obviously tennis is super expensive. When I was growing up, I kind of did quite a lot of tournaments on my own because I couldn't afford to pay a coach week in, week out. 'My coaches back in the day, they would charge me I guess the lowest fee and would try to help me out as much as possible.' While Ms Raducanu was riding high after her US Open win, Ms Kartal had little support until she received LTA backing aged 19 which meant she received Pro Scholarship Programme funding. Ms Kartal has previously said that she sees her former rival as an inspiration. 'I grew up playing Emma, so it proves to me that the dream of making it in tennis is not too far away,' she said. The British hopeful also saw her career blighted by injuries in her teenage years – a wrist problem from the ages of 14 to 17 left her struggling to pick up a racket, which was followed by two abdominal tears. Speaking about the difficulties of those years, Ms Kartal said last night: 'It was a bit hit or miss. I was injured for a few years on and off. I kind of never really got consistent. 'I was still playing at the club I'm at today down in Brighton. I was playing national events, the LTA events, doing the nationals for each age group. 'Then I would just go missing a little bit because I'd have an injury or something like that. So it was never consistent.' Ms Kartal's success this week has seen her rankings soar – this time last year she was just inside the top 300 in the world but now she sits in 51st place, and is likely to rise further. As well as being applauded for her impressive run at SW19, Ms Kartal, who has 14 tattoos, is also being hailed as a trendsetter with her throwback 70s baggy Adidas kit. After her win yesterday, she invited fans to make suggestions for designs her 15th tattoo to mark her impressive run. 'If people want to send me their ideas, I will most likely pick one of them and will probably chuck it on somewhere,' she said.

'Hard to take' but Raducanu draws confidence from defeat
'Hard to take' but Raducanu draws confidence from defeat

BBC News

timean hour ago

  • BBC News

'Hard to take' but Raducanu draws confidence from defeat

The sense of disappointment on Emma Raducanu's face as she exited Centre Court stemmed only from the knowledge that she had gone so British number one was under no illusion about her task as she stepped out under the roof to a raucous reception before facing the world's best women's player, Aryna Sabalenka, on Friday producing one of her best displays in recent times to sweep aside 2023 champion Marketa Vondrousova in the previous round, Raducanu hit the heights she knew she must was not enough on this the two hours which unfolded proved beyond doubt that Raducanu is ready to take the next step on her road back to the top, and begin challenging the biggest names for the biggest prizes."It's hard to take a loss like that. At the same time, I'm playing Aryna, who is a great champion. I have to be proud of my effort today," reflected a tearful Raducanu."It does give me confidence because I think the problem before was that I felt like I was gulfs away from the very top."The former US Open champion went toe-to-toe with - and frequently outplayed - a three-time major winner who has held the number one ranking for the past nine months, and reached five finals in the past six Grand Slams she has a captivating contest, Raducanu had the best part of 15,000 spectators gripped as she ensured the potential for a major shock never quite disappeared until the very said it herself before the match: she needs to bridge the gap to the very was a huge step towards achieving that in her on-court interview, Sabalenka said she expects Raducanu to return to the top 10 "soon".The Belarusian later added: "She's fighting. She's playing much better. She's more consistent. "I can see that mentally she's healthy. I think that's really important. Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's getting there." The sense that Raducanu could push Sabalenka was not founded solely in her impressive start at the All England Club, but also in her increasingly positive demeanour on the joy has returned to the 22-year-old's game, and it is all the more complete for was evident at the Miami Open in March, where former British number one Mark Petchey first joined her coaching team on an informal basis, as she showed immense fight against Emma Navarro to record only her third win over a top-10 has praised Petchey's influence - this week giving him an "11 out of 10" for his work - and said a conversation about their future relationship will take place once "the dust settles" before the start of the hard court recently, in her own words, a "free and expressive" Raducanu competed with a near-permanent smile on her face as she joined forces with Katie Boulter in the doubles at Queen' was another reminder of her new outlook when she raised the microphone to the crowd during her post-match interview on Wednesday, as they serenaded her with encouragement as she discussed the prospect of taking on was clear in the intensity and determination with which she continued to compete despite the setbacks that came against the top again when, teary-eyed in her news conference, she joked that her way of dealing with the defeat was to eat a chocolate bar in the locker room."It's going to take me a few days to process. But at the same time it really motivates me," Raducanu said."It could be a good thing that I want to get straight back to work because [my game is] not far [off]. There's still a lot of things that I want to do better, a lot of things I want to improve to really solidify my game so that in the big moments I can back myself a little bit more." It is the positive manner of her defeat that sets Raducanu up for what comes next in her qualifier who stunned the world with her triumph in New York four years ago has proven that she thrives on the biggest was not overawed by this occasion, carrying the weight of the British number one tag at Wimbledon amid an electric atmosphere, with the crowd eager to celebrate her every did not shrink when the tough moments inevitably arrived, withstanding seven set points in the first set and showing the resolve to go again in the second, each further proof that she is moving in the right the years since her fairytale US Open triumph, she has had wrist and ankle operations, endured injury setbacks, contended with increased expectations and tried to compete despite consistent changes to her coaching set time last year, she was ranked 135th as she continued to rebuild her career, climbing back from outside the top 300 to return to the top the next step on her road back to the top of the sport is competing with, and overcoming, opponents like fell to former world number one Iga Swiatek at both the Australian Open and French Open earlier this year - winning just four games across as many sets - to highlight the gulf that this was the acid test of Raducanu 2.0's progress - and the results were encouraging."I think when I look back at my career, I'm really going to remember that match because you play for those moments, to really be competing toe-to-toe with anyone, but especially with the very best," Raducanu said."I think I did make good progress in the last few months, 100%, with the consistency and the work I've been doing. "I need to still keep doing more of the same."

Wimbledon recap: Injury-hampered Jordan Thompson creates history - but Rinky Hijikata's dream is over
Wimbledon recap: Injury-hampered Jordan Thompson creates history - but Rinky Hijikata's dream is over

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Wimbledon recap: Injury-hampered Jordan Thompson creates history - but Rinky Hijikata's dream is over

Jordan Thompson's impressive Wimbledon march has continued, with the wounded warrior storming into the fourth round for the first time in his career. Ominously, he then declared: 'I'm not anywhere near 100 per cent - but I'm still fighting my a** off every point.' Harbouring a debilitating back injury that made him moan after his two previous courageous five-set wins that even 'snails move faster', Thompson looked in sharper nick on Friday as he beat Italian Luciano Darderi 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-3 in their third-round showdown. It booked the battling 'Tommo' his first last-16 appearance at Wimbledon at the ninth attempt, and only the second fourth-round date of his Grand Slam career, matching his US Open performance of last year and 2020. Thompson believes he can prevail in a mouth-watering last-16 clash on Sunday with in-form fifth seed Taylor Fritz, the big-serving American he beat on the grass at Queen's Club last year. 'It's a pathetic outlook if I go out there thinking I can't win. I won last time on grass, but very different grass, in different circumstances,' the 31-year-old from Sydney said post-match. 'So, you know, it'll be a new day.' On the eve of the Championships, the injury-plagued Thompson wasn't sure he would be fit to play because of the painful sacroiliac joint problem in his back. He has also battled on in the doubles, so as not to let down partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Thompson is the first Australian to reach the fourth round at the grass-court slam this year, with both Alex de Minaur and Daria Kasatkina having the chance to join him on Saturday. Elsewhere, Rinky Hijikata's daydream of pulling off the greatest of Wimbledon escapes against Ben Shelton lasted less than a minute when the pair resumed their match that was suspended controversially with the 10th seed about to serve for the match. When the match resumed on No.2 Court in the Friday afternoon sunshine, everyone could see the funny side once Shelton won all four points in just 55 seconds, including three booming aces, to complete the 6-2 7-5 6-4 victory in two hours and 12 minutes. Sydneysider Hijikata, who had been unable to dent the two-time grand slam semi-finalist's delivery all match, couldn't help but grin ruefully.

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