Influencers who ‘do not care about tennis’ descend on Wimbledon ‘only for the queue’
Social media influencers are turning up to Wimbledon purely to film themselves queuing “for the experience”. Many of these selfie-stick waving content creators don’t care about the tennis, but just want to “soak in the atmosphere” – and get views.
“I’m here every day,” TikTokker Kevin Wight, 47, told the Daily Star outside the main entrance. “It’s a happy event and there’s a lot of happy people here. It’s a bit like a festival.”
Each day of the tournament Kevin sets up a camera outside one of the entry gates and livestreams on Kick while people queue up.
“I’ve never been inside – I do quite the tennis but I get so many views on my platform from doing this it’s worth it. They haven’t invited me to the Royal box yet – and they probably won’t – but a man can dream can’t he?
“I don’t try and annoy anyone. Some staff on the gate get a little bit sniffy with me, but I think they’re just jealous of my amazing talents.”
Nelly Currie, who does not play tennis and was not there to see anyone in particular, said: “I’m here just for the experience, to get to see the tennis but also soak in the atmosphere.”
It comes as Wimbledon’s queues have reached levels not seen since 2019 before the pandemic. Some social media users have slammed how busy the tournament is this year and say wandering around the site is “uncomfortably busy”.
But Wimbledon’s chief steward James Mendelssohn said: “The total number of people hasn’t changed from other years, so it would be inaccurate to say ‘Wimbledon is busier’.
“There will be some fluctuations due to factors like how many courts are in use and how what time of the day it is It’s not right to say that it’s busier and it’s getting too crowded, it’s exactly the same as it’s always been. It may just be the person saying it was too busy arrived at a different time from the year before.”
