Wimbledon draw descends into chaos after women’s singles mix-up
Denise Parnell's tenure as Wimbledon referee got off to a sticky start with the draw on Friday - Shutterstock/Kieran Galvin
The tenure of the new Wimbledon referee, Denise Parnell, got off to an unfortunate beginning when her first draw ceremony descended into chaos.
Parnell was left bemused as the women’s seeds had to be rejigged following a mistake from All England Club staff, who put 24th seed Mirra Andreeva onto the draw sheet after reading out the name of 20th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Parnell carried on regardless as the incorrect entry resulted in a knock-on effect. The scrambling data entry team missed her next announcement, and then seeds’ names started appearing on the wrong lines.
The error was corrected as soon as Parnell had reached the end of that set of seeds, and it will not affect anyone’s matches when the tournament starts on Monday. But it did not impress viewers on the Wimbledon website’s live stream, who were quick to call out a “shambles”.
Wimbledon remains the only major tournament to use the old-fashioned method of chips drawn from a bag, rather than handing the randomising process over to a computer. But there is still technology involved in placing the names on a giant screen for both attendees and live-stream viewers. Which is where Friday’s ceremony came unstuck.
Tough draws for Raducanu and Boulter
Parnell – a former player from the 1980s who made one appearance at the Championships – becomes Wimbledon’s first female referee this year, replacing Gerry Armstrong. She has been an assistant referee at the tournament since 2006.
As for the eventual outcome, Andy Murray has yet to withdraw from the men’s singles – even though he said on Thursday that it is more likely he will play only doubles, alongside brother Jamie – and was drawn to face world No 38 Tomas Machac.
“I certainly couldn’t be preparing for Wimbledon in a worse way,” said Murray – who underwent surgery on a spinal cyst last Saturday – during Thursday’s briefing. “But maybe this is just how it was meant to happen for me. Getting to play with Jamie in the doubles is something that obviously I have never done before.”
Meanwhile, Emma Raducanu was given a tough first-round draw against 22nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, a 29-year-old Russian she has never played before.
Katie Boulter also has an intriguing opening match against Tatjana Maria, a veteran German who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2022.
And Britain’s two remaining top-50 men – Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie – are on track to meet each other in the second round.
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