Middle Sunday, once a crucial day of rest and maintenance for the precious grass courts, today marked the second phase of the Royal Box’s lively transformation into a multi-sports hall of fame.
It’s so good, they’ve staged it twice. All England Club Chair Deborah Jevans’ guests on Day 7 picked up the baton from Saturday’s first leg, celebrating figureheads in sport and Team GB’s achievements at the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.
Cue a totem of on-the-field prowess, leadership and sheer charisma in the form of Brian Lara, the former West Indies captain who was always so quick off the mark in troubling the scoreboard.
There, too, was retired footballer turned TV analyst Chris Kamara, whose “Unbelievable Jeff” catchphrase would be perfect for Centre Court tennis… were he actually sitting next to anyone called, er, Jeff.
Otherwise it was a Parisian fête magnifique and just as well that Lanson, Official Supplier of Champagne to The Championships, has this year launched a special cuvee – Noble Brut Vintage 2008 – which is being poured exclusively in the Royal Box.
Gold medallists offered a glass “noted for its gold colour with hints of golden green and enhanced by a string of fine bubbles” included the record-breaking doubles duo of Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid.
Together the pair, also notable singles competitors, have been crowned doubles champions at Wimbledon (six times), the Australian Open (six times), the US Open (five times) and Roland-Garros (five times).
They were in good company with fellow wheelie speedsters Hannah Cockcroft – a specialist in sprint distances, who has collected nine Paralympic gold medals – and Samantha Kinghorn, who won her first Paralympic gold medal in the 100m in Paris.
After the Summer Games’ poolside party, it was nice to see former GB world champion swimmer and TV presenter Mark Foster mingling in the Royal Box with the fantastic four of Duncan Scott, Matthew Richards, Tom Dean and James Guy, of back-to-back 4x200m freestyle relay fame.
The team could in fact be hailed as the sensational six to honour the contributions of Kieran Bird and Jack McMillan, who swam legs in the heats leading up to the medal swim, and thus were awarded gold medals too.
A famous five of GB Paralympian swimmers completed the bevy of aquatic heroes: freestylers Rhys Darbey, Tully Kearney and Olivia Newman-Baronius, breaststroke specialist Louise Fiddes and Brock Whiston, star of the 200m individual medley.
Into the dressage ring that is the Royal Box (smart attire required, jacket and tie for men, afternoon dress or elegant trouser suit for women) trotted Rosalind Canter, Laura Collett and Tom McEwen, the trio who won team eventing gold at the Palace of Versailles.
On the cycling track, Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant formed another heroic trinity of talents (with the absent Emma Finucane). Their pedal power took them to victory in the women's team sprint in a world record time.
It may have been a display of singles down on the Centre Court grass from the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Carlos Alcaraz and Britain's Sonay Kartal, but teamwork was the hallmark of many of the achievements represented in the Royal Box, such as Jennifer Holl, who piloted visually impaired Sophie Unwin to gold medal euphoria in the different disciplines of individual pursuit and road race.
Joining them for a day at the tennis was a fellow para-cycling squad member, Finlay Graham, victor in the men’s road race.
So many memories were revisited in this roll call of athletes: Emily Craig’s gold medal row in the lightweight double sculls; wheelchair fencer Dimitri Coutya’s dominance of his category in foil and epee; the epic Paracanoe performances of Charlotte Henshaw and Emma Wiggs; and Jodie Grinham, who became the first pregnant athlete to win a Paralympic medal.