Typically, if weather is an issue at Wimbledon, it’s rain. Crews race to cover the courts of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club before they become slow and soggy. (A retractable roof on Centre Court, added in 2009, and on No. 1 Court, added a decade later, allow at least a few matches to be played even in a downpour.)
But if, like me, you turned on ESPN at 6 a.m. Monday to watch the first matches of the most prestigious tournament in tennis, you know it wasn’t a passing shower that players, fans, and TV commentators had to contend with. It was heat — high heat. When the world’s No. 2 player, Carlos Alcaraz, stepped on Centre Court just after noon (UK time), the temperature topped 90 degrees — making Monday the hottest opening day in Wimbledon’s 148-year history.
Former US tennis player and coach Brad Gilbert, part of the ESPN team calling the two-week tournament (all the action is on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN on Disney+) predicted Alcaraz and his opponent, Italian elder statesman Fabio Fognini, would be battling “hairdryer conditions” (hot and windy) and he was right. While tennis players are among the fittest professional athletes, dashing around Wimbledon’s fast grass courts for five hours can be a struggle even in ideal conditions (not hot and windy.)
It’s hard to know if Monday’s heat was the problem for defending Wimbledon champ Alcaraz, who labored to beat the 38-year-old Fognini in five sets, but it definitely affected some spectators. The match was delayed for several minutes in the fourth set so medical personnel could revive someone in the crowd who had collapsed. The high temperatures did seemingly take a toll on Tunisian player Ons Jabeur, who abruptly withdrew from her first-round match after one set, and also on Russian Daniil Medvedev, a semifinalist at Wimbledon a year ago, who looked completely exhausted after losing to unheralded Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi in four sets.
The weather wasn’t all that players had to adjust to Monday. This is the first year that Wimbledon has dispensed with line judges and is relying instead on electronic line calling. (The Australian Open and US Open have made the switch, but the French Open has not.) It was amusing to hear three-time Wimbledon champ John McEnroe, a member of the ESPN broadcast team, talk about the change. Once nicknamed “Superbrat” by the British tabloids for his habit of yelling at linespeople, McEnroe said cameras, computers, and sensors are more accurate than the men and women (in Ralph Lauren blazers) who used to make the calls.
Of course, not everyone likes the idea of AI technology replacing actual humans at Wimbledon. I’m one.
Mark Shanahan is a longtime Living/Arts reporter who writes about music, movies, books, and television.
Mark Shanahan can be reached at mark.shanahan@globe.com.