Yorkshire couple short-changed after cancelled Adele gig and Wimbledon matches

A Yorkshire couple are ruing their ill fortune after they were caught up in a cancelled concert by popstar Adele and a 'day of farce' on Wimbledon's Centre Court.
The Dowses didn't see Adele at all and caught only a brief glimpse of FedererThe Dowses didn't see Adele at all and caught only a brief glimpse of Federer
The Dowses didn't see Adele at all and caught only a brief glimpse of Federer

Quentin and Pam Dowse travelled from their home in Beverley to spend a weekend at two of the capital's biggest events of the summer.

Yet their excitement turned to disappointment when the singer cancelled her Wembley appearance due to vocal damage - before they were short-changed by player retirements at the All England Club.

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Tuesday's play at Centre Court was mired in controversy when the opponents of former champions Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer both pulled out with injuries early on in their matches - leaving spectators denied the chance to watch two of the top seeds in action.

"We enter the Wimbledon ballot every year and we got lucky with Centre Court tickets. Soon after, my husband surprised me with tickets to see Adele in concert," said Pam, 57, a retired building society employee.

"We were going to see Adele on the Sunday evening and we were in the car driving down when we found out she had cancelled. We carried on - our son and daughter both live in London and we had a group of friends who also had tickets, some of them who were coming from the Scottish Highlands."

Despite their bad luck and uncertainty over whether they would be able to claim a a refund from the gig, the couple spend the next day in London excited about their trip to SW19.

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"Two matches were cancelled! We watched a ladies' match, which was quite good, but then Djokovic's opponent Martin Klizan was clearly struggling - he looked like he had been on court for five hours! He was very laboured and had his head down, it was clear he wasn't fit."

There was an extra element of farce when the umpire announced the wrong time for the start of multiple Wimbledon winner Federer's match, meaning many spectators had left their seats and the Royal Box was half-empty.

"We'd been told he wasn't coming for another hour, so some people only got to see a little bit. When his opponent retired, the lady next to us started booing and shouting that she could finish a game if anyone would play her!

"It was astonishing really - it's unheard of. We couldn't believe it. We only stayed another half an hour."

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Pam and Quentin, a retired senior police officer, live in Tickton, the village where British number two Kyle Edmund grew up.

"The weekend was still lovely - there has been so much suffering in London lately, people have lost their lives and homes, so this felt like nothing in comparison," added Pam.

"Kyle is from our village and there are some tennis courts here, which he may have played on when he was younger. We were interested in his progress too. Despite all this, we would still go to Wimbledon again."

There has been controversy at Wimbledon this year after the most first-round retirements since 2008, leading to some commentators to suggest that guaranteed prize money of £35,000 is encouraging injured players to compete when unfit.