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Wimbledon began on Monday with its hottest opening day in history, as temperatures at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club got up to around 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
While conditions for the athletes were atop the concern list, Carlos Alcaraz, the two-time defending men’s singles champion, made sure patrons at Centre Court were also taken care of in the heat.
During his four-and-a-half-hour match against 38-year-old Fabio Fognini, play was suspended after a spectator fell ill due to the heat.
Alcaraz was quick to help the cause, grabbing a water bottle near his bench and running it over to the spectator in question. A member of the Wimbledon security also brought over an umbrella to help shade the person.
The BBC reported that the air temperature on the grounds reached 32.2 degrees Celsius (90.1 degrees Fahrenheit) around 4 p.m. BST. The previous record during Wimbledon’s opening day was 29.3 degrees Celsius in 2001.
Play resumed in the last set, which was in Alcaraz’s favor, 2-0, after breaking Fognini in the second game. He took the final set, 6-1, and let out a big celebration that might have had some relief sprinkled in there.
This match wasn’t expected to be long, as Alcaraz, fresh off a French Open victory over Jannik Sinner, was supposed to handle Fognini easily in the first round.
However, his career-best 19th straight victory was a marathon, as the 22-year-old was tested by Fognini, who plans on retiring after this year.
Fognini had never made it past the third round at Wimbledon, but he was searching for the upset of the year after defeating Alcaraz in the second set, and taking him down, 6-2, in the fourth to force a decisive fifth one.
A lot of Alcaraz’s struggles, though, were self-inflicted. He had nine double-faults and 62 unforced errors compared to 52 winning shots. He also faced 21 break points, something no one fathomed entering Monday’s opening day.
Alcaraz was even spotted shouting something at his coach’s box during the match. Social media translated his words in Spanish as he believed Fognini had a lot more tennis left in him.
But Alcaraz got the job done in the end, while also making sure to help one of the many in attendance to watch him begin his road to a potential three-peat.
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