Wimbledon starts this coming Monday, July 1, and there have already been some interesting developments.
For one thing, there was the history-making 18-year-old Fran Jones, although she lost her wild card qualifying match this past Tuesday.
In other news, the event has caught the attention of the Extinction Rebellion, the global protest group who heard about the controversy surrounding plastic use at Wimbledon last year and decided to intervene.
This is the same group that sang ‘Nelly the Elephant’, naked, during a Brexit debate, and threw blood around outside Downing Street, so whatever they have planned should be spicy.
Over to the Telegraph:
The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) is understood to be stepping up security after discovering secret plans by environmentalists to disrupt the popular Grand Slam tennis tournament, which starts on Monday.
It comes after Wimbledon bosses came under fire last year when stars including Johanna Konta and Kyle Edmonds called out the sea of plastic litter left behind by both players and spectators.
Although plastic straws were banned last year, images emerged of the club’s iconic grass courts strewn with empty plastic bottles and cups.
Wimbledon organisers are clearly very proud of themselves for figuring out the protest action.
A Wimbledon insider revealed: “Extinction Rebellion clearly didn’t expect us to find out what they were plotting but thankfully we have had advanced warning. They are planning to wreak havoc outside.
“They won’t get in, and certainly won’t be able to get anywhere near Centre Court. Security will be extremely tight. The irony of it all is that the club has never done more to cut down plastic waste.”
Following last year’s criticism, tennis chiefs carried out a full review of its practices, and employed an environmental expert to advise on how to take a more sustainable approach to the competition.
“At this year’s championships, the percentage of recycled content in food and drink packaging has increased: strawberry cups are made from 70 per cent recycled plastic, cutlery and the majority of our drinks cups are made from 100 per cent recycled plastic.”
Will that be enough to stop the activists?
The Extinction Rebellion refused to comment, so I guess now we have to wait and see.
[source:telegraph]
