The Royal Box, which seats approximately 80 people at the south end of Centre Court, is reserved each day for members of the Royal Family and a veritable Dress Circle of tennis-loving luminaries invited by the All England Club Chair Deborah Jevans.
In the absence of bona fide blue-blooded personages on Day 11, the red carpet was rolled out triumphantly for Bjorn Borg, a special guest of The Championships 2025 on the 45th anniversary of his fifth Wimbledon title.
The Swede, who introduced rock-star appeal to the genteel sport of lawn tennis (and the phrase “teenybopper fans” to match reports), was the first men’s singles player in the Open Era to block-book the honours board with his five consecutive titles, stretching from the heatwave of 1976 through to the very cold summer of 1980.
This makes him one of just four men, along with William Renshaw, Laurence Doherty and Roger Federer, to achieve this feat. He also won the Roland-Garros title six times (three times achieving the so-called Channel Slam) and was a four-time runner-up at the US Open. A man for all seasons and surfaces.
It is nearing half a century since Borg hung up his Donnay wooden racket, but he remains a benchmark. Only last month Iga Swiatek – today playing Belinda Bencic under his gaze for a place in the ladies’ singles final – joined the tennis legend as one of the players with the fewest matches lost in reaching 40 wins at Roland-Garros.
As fans of the film Borg vs McEnroe will know, the Swede was the Ice Man, or Ice-Borg, in contrast to his rival’s more volcanic temperament, which makes him the perfect observer of the first semi-final contest between the emotionally extrovert Aryna Sabalenka and Amanda Anisimova, who isn’t averse to a big scream herself.
The Big Screen, as in action thrillers, comedy, murder mysteries and quintessentially British television, was represented by a number of familiar faces. Fittingly for an event known around the world for its Queue, there was Ben Whishaw, Q of the James Bond films (and, most adorably, the voice of Paddington Bear) and a possible gadget consultant for fellow guest comedian Rob Brydon, whose Uncle Bryn in Gavin & Stacey often got overexcited about tech.
Of QI quiz show fame and known for a near-genius level IQ score, Royal Box regular Sir Stephen Fry was back to analyse action on Centre Court. The voice of the audio version of the Harry Potter series mingled with fellow thespian Sir David Suchet, whose alter ego for 24 years was the moustachio-ed detective Hercule Poirot.
Famously a method actor, Suchet kept true to Agatha Christie’s depiction of the investigator whose mannerisms included putting a handkerchief down before sitting on a park bench – a tic he did not repeat on his green-cushioned Lloyd Loom wicker chair in the Royal Box.
CVs in quirky comedy-cum-thrillers don’t come more garlanded than that of Irish actress Fiona Shaw, alumna of Bad Sisters, Harry Potter (playing Harry’s aunt Petunia Dursley) and Killing Eve (the ruthless head of the Russia Section at MI6).
BBC News International Editor Jeremy Bowen once expressed interest in swapping a flak jacket for sequins on the floor of Strictly Come Dancing, and happily on Thursday he had, on hand, two of the best advocates for life under the glitterball.
Introducing… Dame Darcey Bussell, former judge, and the “good cop” with the marks-out-of-10 lollipop, and Annabel Croft, who tangoed and twirled her way to an emotional fourth place in the 2023 contest. Not forgetting songstress Ellie Goulding, two of whose tracks have featured for waltzes on the show.
Here, surely, were potential future contestants in Bryony Page, whose dance-inspired moves and tumbles earned her an Olympic gold medal in women’s trampoline, and Olympian triple jumper Jonathan Edwards, champion of the “hop, step and jump” routine, notable for the rhythmic execution of the three phases.
Finally, appearing in a court atmosphere very different from her usual beat, was barrister Lady Cherie Blair, who was appointed CBE in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to women’s issues and charity.
The longest ladies' singles semi-final in the record book was last year's marathon 2 hour, 51 minute contest between Jasmine Paolini and Donna Vekic, but their exertions on the 24.77-metre-long Centre Court is a mere flash for the onlooking Russell Cook, #hardestgeezer. Last year the endurance athlete became the first person to run a 16,000-kilometre route through Africa, taking nearly a calendar year to get from the southernmost to the northernmost point of the continent.
Other spectators with specialist sporting perspectives included Emma Hayes, former manager of Chelsea Women – who led the Blues to a Borg-like run of five Super League titles from 2020 to 2024 – and Haas Formula 1 driver Oliver Bearman, recovering from the high-octane whirl of last weekend's British Grand Prix.