Wimbledon bosses red-faced after running out of WATER as calls for huge finals change grow

Wimbledon’s sponsor, Evian, had to turn away spectators from their refill stations during sweltering temperatures on Friday after embarrassingly running out of water

Wimbledon’s top sponsor Evian suffered the embarrassment of running out of water on a scorching afternoon on Friday.

The Grand Slam tournament saw the men’s semi-finals take place on Centre Court on Friday afternoon as the mercury pushed beyond 30 degrees, with the Met Office putting an amber weather warning in place.

Two spectators had to seek medical attention during Carlos Alcaraz’s four-set win over Taylor Fritz as the sun beat down on the stands. And fans looking for refreshments outside Centre Court were left empty-handed and thirsty.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club site is dotted with Evian water stations, where fans can pay £5 for a branded water bottle, which then allows them free refills. But spectators seeking some water on Friday were left disappointed, with the Evian well having run dry.

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An Evian spokesperson told The Sun: “The exceptionally hot weather, combined with how popular the evian refill system has been with both players and spectators, has resulted in demand being far higher than we have seen in previous years… As a result, we’ve had to stop offering evian refill earlier than planned.”

Mirror Sport has contacted the All England Lawn Tennis Club to request comment. The site has many other water fountains and they continued to work well, meaning a dangerous drought was thankfully avoided.

The high temperatures this year have raised the debate over whether the AELTC should consider closing the Centre Court roof to protect spectators from the sun.

Alcaraz’s win over Fritz was suspended twice so fans could be escorted out after falling ill in the heat. But after winning her semi-final in the sunshine on Thursday, Iga Swiatek wasn’t so sure.

Asked about the possibility of closing the roof to keep the sun out, she said: “Well, I think it’s not possible for the tournament ’cause I think the tournament is supposed to be, like, outdoors tournament.

“From what I saw and heard on different tournaments, they’re usually not willing to close the roof when it’s not raining, when it’s not a necessity. I’m not sure why. Maybe there are some rules or something.

“I don’t know. On some courts when you close the roof, there is no air-conditioning anyway. So here, I think they need air-conditioning to make the grass less humid.

“If it would help, yeah, I think so. But it’s not my job kind of to predict how it’s going to affect the people. Like, hopefully there are not going to be many more incidents like that, but I don’t know how to prevent that.”