With The Championships in full swing, thousands of us are watching from the Wimbledon courts, from home or via various public screens across the country. While you may be well versed in the rules for players, there are a few ‘unspoken’ rules for spectators that you might not be aware of. And, according to Sir Andy Murray, there’s one particular faux pas that people make most often.
Whether you’re on the sidelines and at risk of unwittingly committing the errors yourself, or watching from home ready to spot and shame unruly spectators, it’s worth knowing what’s acceptable and what isn’t. One person who has plenty of experience of tennis matches in front of large crowds is Sir Andy Murray, and he spoke to Good Housekeeping about some of the things spectators should avoid.
‘One thing that lots of people do is shout out between first and second serves. That’s probably the most common mistake, along with calling “out” in the middle of the point,’ Andy says. ‘That’s probably the one that’s most off-putting for the players because if you hear an out call when you’re on the court, it’s hard to differentiate between what used to be the lines person [now electronic call], or whether it was someone in the crowd shouting.’ He adds that the confusion can even ‘cause the player to stop in the middle of a point’.
However, Sir Andy says he understands why people occasionally shout out from the sidelines. ‘I don’t think that one is always intentional. It’s just people getting into the match and they make the call themselves,’ he says. ‘People see the ball, it looks like it might be going out or it’s close to the line, so people shout “out” because they think the ball’s gone out.’ Instead, he says, wait for the definitive decision from an official.
Another spectator habit that Sir Andy finds off-putting is people standing up opposite the player who’s serving. ‘It’s fine when you’re on the sides of the court, because the players are obviously looking straight down at the opponent in front of them. But if there’s lots of movement behind your opponent, that can be quite distracting,’ he says.
However, the most frustrating incident of all – that Sir Andy laughs about now – was a particular call-out he would regularly hear during his matches. ‘I spent pretty much my whole career at Wimbledon dealing with, “Come on Tim” shouts in between points, which was amusing probably for the first couple of years, but after 14, 15 years, I probably could have done without it,’ he laughs, referring to fellow tennis player Tim Henman.
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Now he’s off the court and on the sidelines as a coach and supporter, Sir Andy has taken on a new ‘tongue in cheek’ role as official ‘Spectator Coach’ of Walker’s Shortbread. ‘It’s just a fun way of trying to give the fans a little lesson on what they should and shouldn’t be doing when they go to the tennis,’ he says. The tennis legend even took part in a video, illustrating some common mistakes to avoid when watching from the stands [watch above].
Last week, Sir Andy was a spectator himself, attending Wimbledon alongside The Princess of Wales. The pair were pictured sitting side by side watching all the action, and Sir Andy says he enjoyed their day together. ‘It was good fun,’ he says. ‘I’ve spent a little bit of time with her before. I know she obviously loves her sport, loves her tennis and has come along to Wimbledon a lot of times.’
