The box office spectacular of the men’s semi-finals drew a Tatler-worthy red carpet to the Royal Box, led by Their Royal Highnesses The Duchess of Gloucester, Honorary President of the Lawn Tennis Association, and Princess Michael of Kent.
Princess Michael was accompanied by Lady Annabel Goldsmith, after whom high society’s favourite nightclub in Berkeley Square is named, and her daughter Jemima Khan Goldsmith.
The Earl of Snowdon, son of Princess Margaret and first cousin of The King, completed the royal line-up. He was accompanied by international interior designer and architect Viktor Udzenija.
Attending a different kind of court from his usual post as a senior operational member of the royal household was Sir Clive Alderton, Private Secretary to the Sovereign and Queen Camilla since September 2022. Another guest familiar with a royal audience was Sir Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister.
Bjorn Borg returned to his former fiefdom for a second day of semi-final action alongside former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, who in 1987 brought his own brand of rock-star attitude to Centre Court wearing a black-and-white check headband.
The Australian may not have gone on to repeat his triumph, but he left an enduring legacy in The Climb. His iconic clamber up to the Players’ Box to celebrate the moment of victory with his entourage has become a treasured ritual of Wimbledon singles finals.
Of the four potential Sunday climbers on court today – Taylor Fritz in zip-neck top and white headband, Jannik Sinner in a baseball cap, Novak Djokovic in a classic polo shirt and Carlos Alcaraz in plain Tee under a cable-knit cardigan – who would win the fashion laurels?
Wimbledon’s champions have morphed into fashion brands over the decades (René Lacoste, Fred Perry, Stan Smith to name a few) and provided many fashion milestones, from Suzanne Lenglen’s calf-bearing dress in 1919 and Gussie Moran’s lace knickers in 1949 to the Williams sisters’ kit that was always boldly on point.
No one has better front row credentials than Dame Anna Wintour, the longtime editor-in-chief of Vogue who was elegant as ever on Day 12 with her immaculate signature bob and sunglasses. With a knowing eye for grace and elegance, there too was David Lauren, son of Ralph Lauren, founder of the company that has been the official outfitter of The Championships since 2006.
The stage was set for a wholesome, feelgood day of tennis on a sunny English day in the presence of Dame Elaine Paige, the celebrator on BBC Radio 2 of Broadway, Hollywood and the West End – but not without an undercurrent of villainy from the actors’ corner.
Keeping a beady eye on proceedings were Rami Malek (who played arch-antagonist Lyutsifer
Safin in the James Bond film No Time to Die) and James Norton (a violent criminal in Happy Valley), but happily keeping their fictional associations in check was Benedict Cumberbatch,
aka Dr Strange who practises magical mystical arts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Tennis is a numbers game – points, stats, speed guns and all that. So it was fitting that five members of the GB Olympic gold medal-winning men’s eight filed in – hello Tom Digby, Charles Elwes, Thomas Ford, Rory Gibbs and James Rudkin – to complete the sum total of nine (the others, including their cox, being here on Wednesday).
The All England Club doesn’t do anything by halves, except when it comes to GB Olympic gold medallist rowing crews it seems. Invitees on Friday included two more women’s quadruple scullers, Hannah Scott and Lauren Henry (the other half of the boat were also guests in the Royal Box on Day 10).
Also watching the world’s best put their skills on the line was an expert on risk in the purest mathematical front: Sir David Harding, the British financier and founder of the Winton Group (which specialises in quantitative investment) and the UK’s most generous philanthropist. Fellow knight of the realm Sir Demis Hassabis, computer scientist and UK government AI advisor, added to the tally of distinguished guests.
When it comes to numbers on the board, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has no equal. His acclaim is such that a few miles north-east of the All England Club is Dulka Road, a quiet residential street that excites stratospheric levels of excitement on the occasions when No.10 comes up for sale.
The only cricketer to score 100 international centuries, the former captain of India and the holder of several world records – including the all-time highest run-scorer in both One Day Internationals and Test cricket and the highest number of player of the match awards in international cricket – vigilantly kept his eye on the skilled array of strokes executed with accuracy and timing on the grass of London SW19.