Inside Sport newsletter: Get an expert guide to the biggest moments shaping the world of sportGet our free Inside Sport newsletterGet our free Inside Sport newsletterPlay at Wimbledon qualifying at Roehampton was suspended for over an hour due to a power outage that caused the tournament’s Electronic Line Calling (ELC) system to fail amid extreme heat. Players were taken off court shortly after midday on Wednesday, with the temperature in south west London reaching a brutal 33C, before returning at around 1:30pm BST. ELC replaced replaced line judges at Wimbledon last year, but the system was accidentally deactivated during the match between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkov and Sonay Kartal, due to “human error”. Wimbledon qualifying takes place away from the All England Club, at Roehampton (PA)Speaking ahead of this year’s Wimbledon, chief executive of the All England Club Sally Bolton said there was confidence in the system – but the extreme heat is likely to have played a part in this latest outage. “There was a temporary loss of power to part of our Qualifying venue, which meant that the electronic line calling system could not function,” a spokesperson for the All England Club said. “Power has now been restored and play is expected to resume shortly.”The tournament is operating under an extreme heat weather warning, with the first priority being the welfare of players and guests. Although it is understood it is likely the heat was a factor in the outage, a full investigation will be undertaken in due course.On the BBC, presenter Annabel Croft said it had been a “very challenging day”, with temperatures expected to rise to 37C later in the day. Britain’s Dan Evans, looking to reach a final Wimbledon before his planned retirement, was one of those impacted by the delay as he lost in the second round of qualifying against Tristan Schoolkate, the Australian 28th seed closing out a 7-5 6-0 win when play resumed.Schoolkate said of the issues in his post-match interview on the BBC: “It is not usually this hot in London, so it was unexpected – it usually rains a bit.“I don’t think it was a heat thing, maybe it had something to do with the electronics and all that, but you get time to gather your thoughts. It was a bit strange, but I was just glad I came out of the gates pretty hot there.”Wimbledon has a heat rule in place for this year’s tournament and players are allowed to request a 10-minute break when the heat stress index is at…
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2026-06-24 16:41:08
