I went to Wimbledon and saw tons of empty seats – it’s an embarrassment

The players wore white, tennis balls were thwacked and everywhere you looked there was a sea of green – no, not the hallowed Centre Court turf, but unoccupied seats in the stands.

There has been grumbling about empty seats on Wimbledon’s show courts for several years, but with the 2024 tournament it seems to have reached a crescendo. This week, the All England Club took the step of commenting on the criticism in a statement, reading: “Both Centre Court and No 1 Court are completely sold out. It is entirely reasonable to expect that guests won’t be sat in their seats throughout the entire day.”

Is it? I was in SW19 on Monday and the absence of spectators was a hot topic, with the fellow tennis fans sitting around us surprised at the lack of attendance. The Club has also blamed this year’s poor weather, but I can’t think of any better place to be in the pouring rain than under Centre Court’s retractable roof.

During the thrilling third set between American star Taylor Fritz and fourth seed Alexander Zverev, I’d estimate the place was three-quarters full, with obvious blocks of 15-20 vacant seats. Which might not sound bad, but when you’re watching from home because you couldn’t get a ticket, queuing outside in the rain or sitting on Henman Hill because you only have a ground pass, it’s as frustrating as first world problems get. The same was true over on Number One Court, for the match between 9th seed Alex de Minaur and Arthur Fils, with obvious blocks of empty seats. If SW19 is hoping to shed its reputation for being an elite event, this does nothing to help.

Annoyed tennis fans have been venting on social media in recent days, asking how, when tickets are ‘like gold dust’, there can be empty seats during big matches such as Emma Raducanu’s on Sunday. ‘Thousands queue, millions miss out in the ballot, yet it’s half empty? It’s broken,’ wrote one angry fan. Two summers ago, even Sue Barker noted that “there are lots of empty seats” – and when Sue speaks, you listen.

It’s not just upsetting for the fans. An empty court can kill the atmosphere faster than handing Cliff Richard a microphone. In modern tennis, players have come to expect loud cheering from packed stadiums, not muted applause from a depleted crowd. Grand Slams such as Wimbledon are the sport’s big showcase – an opportunity to peacock its popularity to the world and attract new fans. That’s tough to do when it looks as though even the lucky ticket-holders can’t be bothered to turn up.

Part of the problem is, of course, the hospitality. There’s no getting away from the fact that the Slams – and Wimbledon in particular – have become social days out. You only need look at the revolving door of celebrity faces in the Royal Box and prime seats (on Monday: Nicole Scherzinger, actress Jodie Turner-Smith and Love Island’s Montana Brown), as well as the endless Instagram selfies in front of corporate logos to understand that SW19 has become a place to be seen, rather than a place to see tennis. Not that I’m bitter that I didn’t get such an invite myself, you understand.

‘Hospitality for Wimbledon 2024 witnessed unprecedented demand once again, and sold out by the end of March – earlier than ever before!’ the tournament’s website currently boasts.

Paul Miller, the founder of Eden Mill, official gin partner of the Lawn Tennis Association, has claimed that hospitality tickets allow “the ability to have the peaceful little bit of time away from all the hubbub around Wimbledon where there’s a lot of noise and a lot of action going on.”

But hubbub, noise and action are exactly what tennis fans flock to SW19 for. And having seen, this week, the sheer volume of people packed inside the grounds – attendance figures now outstrip pre-pandemic levels – I can attest that the vast majority of the noise and action is very much outside the courts, not on them.

Simply, many people never leave the free bar and are happier to be stuffing their faces than watching tennis. The lure of the complimentary cucumber sandwich has never been so strong.

Those who do venture on court are often not engaged with the action. Two men sitting in front of us, wearing corporate lanyards, talked through an entire set – until annoyed fans leaned forward and asked them to be quiet. They left shortly after and never returned. Trust me, when you’ve spent your own hard-earned money on show court seats, you’re reluctant to leave them for anything other than the most urgent loo break.

Many of the empty blocks, it should be said, will be debentures, of which there are 2,520 on Centre Court, or 16.7% of the total 14,979 seats (after corporates and invited guests, just 53.5% of seats are made available for the public). It would be naive to overlook how vital these five-year passes – which guarantee the best seats in the house, every day of the tournament – are to its survival, with the revenue contributing heavily to prize money.

Indeed, the argument put forward by many is that if the seat has been paid for, it’s down to the punter whether they occupy it. But while Wimbledon is a business, that attitude is horribly alienating to tennis fans who may never be able to tick Wimbledon off their bucket lists.

So what can be done? For starters – something it would be simple to adjust – the 20 minute breaks between show court matches aren’t long enough. I understand the need to keep things moving, but it didn’t leave us enough time to run to the loo and buy a cup of tea – the only time we left our seats all day, and we still missed the first few games of the next match. That’s unfair on both the fans and players.

Others have suggested selling tickets per match or for half-days, but I find that frustrating at the other Grand Slams, which have split their offering into ‘day’ and ‘night’, meaning you can easily pay hundreds of pounds and see very little tennis if one player dominates or – as has happened to me three times this year – a player has to retire. Wimbledon does resell tickets once spectators have left for the day to those with ground passes for £15, with all funds going to charitable causes. But that relies on them flagging that fact – far from foolproof.

Hospitality packages that include big screens or glass-fronted viewing areas? Allowing ground pass-holders to temporarily fill empty seats? All options should be up for discussion before the issue of Wimbledon’s empty seats reaches break point.