Despite LGBTQ athletes in the royal box, Wimbledon remains Grand Slam’s lone Pride holdout
The Australian, French, and US Open all have hosted Pride events. When will Wimbledon celebrate its first Pride in the stands? The post Despite LGBTQ athletes in the royal box, Wimbledon remains Grand Slam’s lone Pride holdout appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
When it comes to iconic LGBTQ scenes in England, Wimbledon doesn’t exactly rank high on the list.
The only place where you’re less likely to find a “Heartstopper” watch party is The Vatican.
So when this year’s tournament coincided with Pride in London last weekend, it was probably not a big surprise that the crowd in the stands was not exactly covered in nail polish and body glitter.
As The Athletic reported, the other three legs of the Grand Slams have had Pride events over the past few years, with the Australian and US Open hosting five and the French Open two. Wimbledon is the lone holdout that has yet to celebrate an official Pride promotion.
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Who knew that the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club was auditioning to be the new home of the Texas Rangers?
To be fair, the Club welcomed several LGBTQ athletes over the weekend as part of “Sporting Saturday,” a salute to athletes from across the sports universe. Naturally, Billie Jean King was honored as befitting a legend who won 20 Wimbledon championships during her career.
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Additionally, other Team LGBTQ luminaries like soccer players Bethany England and Fran Kirby and rower Lauren Rowles were part of the festivities. And Tom Daley turned the tournament into his own personal runway earlier in the week.
Nonetheless, there’s something prim and staid about Wimbledon that doesn’t lend itself to going all in on a Pride celebration.
The Wimbledon colors aren’t exactly a rainbow
Out gay tennis player Daria Kasatkina, who won her first two matches at this year’s Wimbledon before losing in the third round, compared the atmosphere to other tournaments and her assessment was… polite.
“I know that, for example, in Australia, they’re very active in this case. They are very vocal and supportive. I think that Wimbledon is, in general, a little bit different. The colors they use, it’s white, green, and purple, and that’s pretty much it,” she said.
Indeed, the tournament’s dress code requires players to take the court entirely in white, right down to their undergarments.
Such strict regulations probably go a long way toward explaining why Wimbledon has never hosted a Pride event.
But if they ever did pack their stands full of gays, the dress code would ensure that this was the first time the Royal Box ever found itself in the middle of a white party.
If that’s not a reason to bring Pride to Wimbledon, I don’t know what is.
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The post Despite LGBTQ athletes in the royal box, Wimbledon remains Grand Slam’s lone Pride holdout appeared first on Outsports.
