Russia's Anastasia Potapova serves to Russia's Mirra Andreeva during the women's singles match on day seven of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Sunday, July 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
By Ken Maguire
Where and when to pop your Champagne is such a Wimbledon problem.
Someone got the timing wrong Sunday at the oldest Grand Slam tournament, where the bubbly helps wash down the strawberries and cream.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please, if you are opening a bottle of Champagne don’t do it as the player is about to serve. Thank you,” Australian umpire John Blom announced just after the start of a match on No. 3 Court.
Anastasia Potapova smiled and nodded in approval. The 22nd-seeded player was serving to start her third-round match against teenager Mirra Andreeva. When she tossed the ball in the air a cork popped and she sent the serve long. She then lost the point on her second serve, and the umpire's warning followed.
Lanson Champagne is available on the grounds of the All England Club by the glass, half-bottle and bottle. “Le White Label Sec” goes for 95.10 pounds ($122) for a bottle.
“Usually, actually, we buy it here, but it’s quite nice that you can actually bring your own in, which I didn’t realize until my husband looked it up this morning,” said Sarah-Jane Watson, a lawyer from Surrey.
“We brought a bottle," she said, “and then we bought a bottle.”
They watched matches at No. 2 Court, where a security guard asked that they not open the bottle inside.
A cork was heard popping at Centre Court, though, between points during a match featuring Iga Swiatek and Belinda Bencic.
The 32nd-seeded Marie Bouzkova said she's too dialed in to be distracted. The Czech Republic native, who lost to Marketa Vondrousova, said during a match a couple of years ago she hadn't noticed a fire alarm going off in a nearby building.
“I was like ‘what fire alarm?'” she said.
Though there's at least one place, she added, that's a bit louder than average: Flushing Meadows.
“In New York," Bouzkova said, "you have more outside noise, I would say, just from the crowd either drinking maybe too much beer or just being a little bit more loud.”
Stefan Olander, co-founder of sportswear company Omorpho, joins Cheddar Innovates to talk about his 'gravity sportswear' concept and why our workout clothes need an overhaul.
MARLOWE., the men's skincare and grooming brand, has announced 23-year-old professional boxer Ryan Garcia as "Chief Marlowe Officer" and co-owner of the brand. In this role, Ryan will help boost brand awareness, oversee product design, and strategize digital marketing content for his signature products. Ryan joined Cheddar to discuss the partnership and his boxing career.
A packed Thursday pod: Carlo and Baker cover the latest developments in the Ghislaine Maxwell, Jussie Smollett and Elizabeth Holmes trials. Plus, Dems are losing the Hispanic vote, Boris Johnson in trouble again, and is it possible that Adele has peaked?
Laine Higgins, college sports reporter for the Wall Street Journal, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell where she discusses the college football coaching carousel and says Lincoln Riley, Brian Kelly, and Mario Cristobal leaving for new schools this quickly is not normal.
The leading gaming organization and lifestyle brand 100 Thieves just raised $60 million in new funding closing its Series C. This new round of funding has raised the valuation of the organization to about $460 million. John Robinson, president and COO of 100 Thieves, joins Cheddar News to talk about what's next for the company.
Heather Smith, Founder and Chief Strategist at theHAUTEbar, discusses how the ski and resort industry is bouncing back after the pandemic; Mark Ellwood, Host of "Travel Genius" Podcast, breaks down the best travel destinations for winter sports before the 2022 Winter Olympics kick off; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Jeremy Jones' Higher.'
Joan Greve, a politics reporter at The Guardian US, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down the implications of the Biden administration announcing a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing games in response to allegations of human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims. She noted the significance of the move, assessing the already frayed relationship between the U.S. and China. "The Chinese have said that a boycott would be politically manipulative, and now they are actually threatening countermeasures," she said. "And that will certainly have an impact on the spirit of the games at the very least."
