{"id":42960,"date":"2025-07-06T08:56:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T08:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/42960\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T08:56:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T08:56:17","slug":"wimbledon-recap-pride-in-london-brings-few-rainbows-to-all-england-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/42960\/","title":{"rendered":"Wimbledon recap: Pride in London brings few rainbows to All England Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

Follow The Athletic\u2019s Wimbledon coverage<\/a><\/p>\n

Welcome to the Wimbledon briefing, where The Athletic\u00a0will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.<\/p>\n

On day six, it was Pride Day in London, a tennis star\u2019s patience was rewarded, and the Americans made the most of July 4th weekend.<\/p>\n

Pride Day at Wimbledon, with few rainbows<\/p>\n

More than 30,000 people took part in London\u2019s annual Pride parade Saturday afternoon in the city center. Thousands more lined the streets in celebration of the capital\u2019s biggest LGBTQ+ event.<\/p>\n

The scene at Wimbledon, which takes in views of central London from the top of \u201cHenman Hill,\u201d was a little different.<\/p>\n

There is no organized Pride celebration at the All England Club, as a spokesperson confirmed in a statement sent to The Athletic. It was instead \u201cSporting Saturday\u201d \u2014 an annual celebration of sports people on the middle Saturday of the month. The Royal Box had LGBTQ+ sportspeople like Billie Jean King and Dame Kelly Holmes as guests, but there were no Pride flags, and people had to look hard to find any rainbows.<\/p>\n

The Australian Open has hosted five Pride Days; the U.S. Open will host its fifth this year, and the French Open has held two, making Wimbledon the only major to have not yet formally dedicated a tournament day to Pride celebrations.<\/p>\n

On No. 3 Court, Daria Kasatkina, the No. 16 seed, who came out publicly as gay in 2022, was wearing a bracelet with rainbows on it during her 6-2, 6-3 defeat to No. 19 seed Liudmila Samsonova in the third round. Kasatkina defected to Australia from Russia earlier this year and has spoken out against her former homeland and anti-LGBTQ+ politics in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that, for example, in Australia, they\u2019re very active in this case. They are very vocal and supportive,\u201d the 28-year-old, who announced her engagement to figure skater girlfriend Natalia Zabiiako last month, told The Athletic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that Wimbledon is, in general, a little bit different,\u201d Kasatkina added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe colors they use, it\u2019s white, green, and purple, and that\u2019s pretty much it. But I must say that around the city of London, I can feel the support, and I like how this city\u2026 I mean, we see the rainbow flags everywhere. So that\u2019s nice. We have to accept that Wimbledon is different. They\u2019ve got their traditions and they follow them. And I don\u2019t think there is any sign of disrespect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just got the approval for black shorts (in 2023 to take the stress off women and girls during their periods). It\u2019s not much of a place for this kind of thing. They\u2019re just very traditional, and we have to accept that, but overall, walking around London, I can feel a lot of the support from everywhere, so that\u2019s the most important.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel that they [the AELTC] don\u2019t want to support. It\u2019s just this place, it\u2019s only about tennis and strawberries.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2019, there was a Pride panel at the All England Club, with King speaking to young people about her experience of coming out. It was hosted by tennis reporter Nick McCarvel and was one of the first Pride events on site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was an important first step for Wimbledon,\u201d McCarvel said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cPride\u2019s evolving, and the tennis space is a space that maybe could be catching up a little quicker. But I think we also look at the women who have led the way in tennis. Billie Jean is certainly one of them. Daria Kasatkina continues to be one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the men\u2019s game, it is different. In December last year, Joao Lucas Reis da Silva<\/a> became the first active male professional tennis player to come out as gay when he posted a selfie on Instagram with his partner. Bill Tilden, the American star who dominated tennis in the 1920s, never publicly discussed his sexuality outside of his 1948 book, \u201cMy Story: A Champion\u2019s Memoirs.\u201d Brian Vahaly, who played in the 2000s and reached a career-high of world No. 57, and Bobby Blair, on tour in the 1980s, came out after they had retired from professional tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cSports haven\u2019t traditionally been a place where people have felt like they can be their full queer selves,\u201d McCarvel said. \u201cI think of central London and the scenes in Soho and the Pride flags and the fact that it\u2019s not reflected today visually here at Wimbledon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lesbian couple Jo Smith and Amelia Pamplin, two tennis fans from Brighton, said it feels like a safe and accepting place here, even without a day to recognise and celebrate the importance of Pride.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like there\u2019s been any animosity at all at any point,\u201d Pamplin said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been sitting on the hill, and that was fine. I gave her a kiss. Everything was fine and normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I think about it, and that it\u2019s London Pride, then I suppose it would be nice to have something like that around here,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Caoimhe O\u2019Neill<\/p>\n

Belinda Bencic\u2019s patience continues to be rewarded<\/p>\n

Coming back to tennis after giving birth is one of the toughest things to do in sport, but Belinda Bencic<\/a> continues to thrive back on the WTA Tour.<\/p>\n

She is through to the Wimbledon fourth round after a tight three-set win over Jessica Pegula\u2019s conqueror, Elisabetta Cocciaretto. It continues a great season for Bencic, on top of winning the Abu Dhabi Open title and reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, too. When the rankings next update, she\u2019ll be back in the world\u2019s top 30 at a minimum; she could go even higher if she can beat No. 18 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Monday to reach the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

Bencic returned to tennis in October, ranked No. 1213, having given birth to her daughter, Bella, six months earlier.<\/p>\n

She did so at an ITF W75 event in Hamburg, Germany, on the lowest rung of professional tennis. She played a couple more such events before the year was out, reaching the final in Angers, France. \u201cI\u2019m really confident about getting back to where I was and even better,\u201d she said during a video interview in December after playing those events.<\/p>\n

Bencic has made good on that self-belief, reaching the fourth round at two majors and then winning a 500-level title. She missed the French Open with injury, but she attributes her success at the sport\u2019s premier events this year to the hard yards she put in at the back end of 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the way I like to go because I feel like I have to build up,\u201d she said in a news conference Saturday. \u201cI cannot just go straight into it. I gain more confidence with playing more matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see the point of coming back and losing your first three rounds, and then you\u2019re not able to get match play. [It\u2019s important] to have that match play and then feel more confident, going step by step up to the level that you\u2019ve been. This is the way for me, and I don\u2019t care if people are surprised or not. This is just our plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

She insisted that managing this kind of comeback is very personal, but insofar as making one of the hardest things in tennis look miraculously straightforward, Bencic\u2019s lower-tier tournament strategy may be a replicable one.<\/p>\n

Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n

Stripes more than stars for U.S. players?<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s fitting that America found some success on July 4th weekend.<\/p>\n

As Grand Slams go, this Wimbledon hasn\u2019t been great for those representing the stars and stripes. Coco Gauff<\/a> and Jessica Pegula<\/a>, the No. 2 and 3 women\u2019s seeds, left in the first round. Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe were out in the second.<\/p>\n

Madison Keys, Sofia Kenin, Danielle Collins and Brandon Nakashima lost in the third. Saturday, Nakashima, the No. 29 seed, won the first set and held leads in the second and third against Italy\u2019s Lorenzo Sonego, but ultimately lost a five-hour match in a tiebreak. Iga \u015awi\u0105tek<\/a> dispatched Collins in a ruthlessly patient 6-2, 6-3 win.<\/p>\n

Just two of the eight American women who were seeded remain. Six American men were seeded, and two of them have made it too. Navarro came back from a set down to beat Krej\u010d\u00edkov\u00e1, the defending champion.<\/p>\n

Amanda Anisimova is by far the highest seed in her quarter and has the most fearsome backhand on the planet.<\/p>\n

Taylor Fritz has shown why he is top five in the world: He is a competitor. That\u2019s how, two points away from defeat in the first round, he made it through against the biggest server in the game, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.<\/p>\n

Ben Shelton is still figuring out consistency from week to week, but give him the bright lights of a Grand Slam, and he shows up.<\/p>\n

He will face Sonego in the last 16. He came back from 2-1 down in sets against the Italian at the French Open in May.<\/p>\n

Fritz faces Jordan Thompson, a dangerous Australian who has somehow won three matches with a balky back. Anisimova might have her hands full with Linda Noskov\u00e1, another big hitter in a match that could turn on who handles their nerves better.<\/p>\n

Navarro is the only one of the four who won\u2019t be the favorite in her fourth-round match against Mirra Andreeva, the world No. 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super pumped to be where I\u2019m at,\u201d she said after beating Krej\u010d\u00edkov\u00e1. These are the days and the moments that you have to appreciate and enjoy because they are fleeting. It\u2019s not going to be like this forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Futterman<\/p>\n

Other notable results on day six<\/strong><\/p>\n