![\"Carlos](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/alcaraz-water-wimbledon-2025-day-one.jpg\")
<\/p>\n Wimbledon
\n Alcaraz aids stricken fan as brutal heat hits Wimbledon on Day 1<\/p>\n
Hot weather favourable for grass, says AELTC’s Head of Grounds & Horticulture<\/p>\n
June 30, 2025<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Julian Finney\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Carlos Alcaraz passes water for a fan amid record-breaking heat at Wimbledon on Monday.
\n By Jerome Coombe<\/p>\n
Wimbledon<\/a> has opened its 138th edition under scorching conditions, with the tournament\u2019s hottest opening Monday on record setting the stage for a drama-filled start.<\/p>\n According to the UK\u2019s Met Office, temperatures have soared above 32 degrees Celsius, pushing players and spectators to their limits. Inevitably, the red-hot two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> found himself at the centre of the action.<\/p>\n Locked in a gruelling five-set battle with Italy\u2019s Fabio Fognini<\/a>, play was halted when a fan collapsed from heat stress. Demonstrating compassion, Alcaraz rushed over with a bottle of water, which was passed on to the struggling fan as medical teams intervened.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaying with such a high heat out there is really difficult to deal with,” Alcaraz later said. “Even tougher when you’re playing long matches, long rallies. So we’re playing in brutal conditions. It’s really tough to play with, but we are tennis players.<\/p>\n “Obviously, for the fan, and even here in London, they are not used to having this weather. Sitting five hours in the stand without moving, the sun hitting, could be really difficult to deal with for the spectators.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier in the day, ninth seed Daniil Medvedev<\/a> became the first high-profile player to lose in the heat, falling to Benjamin Bonzi<\/a> in four sets. It marks the first time in his seven Wimbledon<\/a> appearances that the 29-year-old has failed to advance past the opening round.<\/p>\n Despite acknowledging Bonzi\u2019s impressive performance, Medvedev didn\u2019t shy away from highlighting the punishing weather.<\/p>\n \u201cPhysically it was not easy,\u201d said Medvedev, the No. 9 in the PIF ATP Rankings. \u201cWhen you’re on fire, everything goes in. The fourth set was the toughest set for sure. And heat? I will never say he won because of the heat, but [it] is not easy to play. I do think if you ask him, he was not enjoying the heat either.\u201d<\/p>\n You May Also Like: Top 10 stars Medvedev, Rune fall in opening-day upsets<\/a><\/p>\n While the soaring temperatures have tested players and spectators alike, they have also had an unexpected upside for the iconic grass courts. Neil Stubley, Head of Grounds and Horticulture at the All England Club, explained that the hot spell has been favourable for maintaining the playing surface.<\/p>\n \u201cHot weather actually provides good growing conditions for the grass at Wimbledon<\/a>,\u201d said Stubley. \u201cApart from some extra watering, no additional measures were necessary before the Championships.\u201d<\/p>\n Some players appeared to deal with the heat better, and Chile’s Nicolas Jarry<\/a> was one of them. The World No. 143 put concerns aside to stun eighth seed Holger Rune<\/a> in a thrilling five-set battle.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not difficult [to play five sets] in that heat,” Jarry told ATPTour.com. “It\u2019s much tougher to play three hours in Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wimbledon Alcaraz aids stricken fan as brutal heat hits Wimbledon on Day 1 Hot weather favourable for grass,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-228016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"It](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1751332633_14_it-all-adds-up-banner.jpg\"\/)
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