Wimbledon Doesn’t Want Williams to Bring Her Bottled Water

Written by: Staff on 10th July 2012

Wimbledon Doesn’t Want Williams to Bring Her Bottled Water

epa03299079 Serena Williams of the US returns to Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland during the women's final match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 07 July 2012. EPA/JONATHAN BRADY |

The aftermath of Serena Williams’s fifth victory in the Wimbledon final caused much consternation for both the All England Club and the BBC.

The All England Club’s commercial policy decreed television footage of Serena Williams’ post-final press conference has to be cropped after the five times champion flaunted Wimbledon sponsorship rules by taking her Gatorade-branded water bottle.

The All England Club has a commercial agreement with Evian water and a spokesman revealed Serena has persisted on brandishing her Gatorade despite two previous warnings.

Now the All England Club maintains they will have stern words with both Williams and her agent Jill Smoller prior to next year’s Championships should Williams be in the draw..

Meantime the BBC fielded numerous messages of complaints from viewers who perceived Lindsay Davenport and John McEnroe were favoring Williams as they called the match on national terrestrial British television with an audience close to 5 million viewers.

The complaints centered on the fact the American duo of Davenport and McEnroe repeatedly referred to Williams by her Christian name during the ladies final yet called her opponent Agnieszka Radwanska by her surname.

Topics: Agnieszka Radwanska, All England Club 2012, BBC tennis news, Gatorade tennis news, Mcenroe, Serena Williams, Sports