France’s Wilfried Happio wears a bandage after being assaulted at the warm-up stage during in the men’s 400 metre hurdles final during the French Elite Athletics Championships at the Helitas stadium in Caen, northern France, on June 25, 2022. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)

French hurdler Wilfried Happio won the national title at the weekend despite running with an eyepatch after he was assaulted 20 minutes before his race.

Happio, 23, was warming up for the men’s 400m hurdles final at the national championships in Caen, northern France, on Saturday when he was attacked, taking several punches to the face.

“There was a big incident in the warm-up. Someone jumped on him and hit him,” Happio’s coach Olivier Vallaeys said.

“Some guy came out of nowhere and asked him if he was Wilfried Happio and then jumped on him. I managed to hold him back.

“It was 20 minutes before the race, we were ready to go to the call area.

“We’re shocked. The guy was arrested and Wilfried is fine. But I’m speechless, it was pure aggression, it’s scandalous. These are the methods of a savage.”

After Happio crossed the line in a new personal best time of 48.57sec to book his place in the French team for next month’s world championships in Oregon, blood was streaming from his nose.

“I don’t want to say any more about the (assault),” he said. “The race was more complicated than normal because I only had one eye.”

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The French Athletics Federation said a man had been arrested in connection with the attack and an investigation had begun.

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Ground staff members cover the court 4 as the rain started to fall on the first day of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on June 27, 2022. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP)

LONDON – The world’s most famous queue began streaming into the All England Club on Monday as the gates opened at the start of the 135th edition of the Wimbledon championships.

The quintessential English sight of thousands of tennis fans waiting patiently, often having camped overnight, to gain entry to the grounds has been missing since 2019.

COVID-19 put paid to Wimbledon in 2020 and last year the queue was scrapped on safety grounds as the tournament returned to semi-normality, albeit with restricted attendances and players based in secure hotel bubbles.

Although all that makes Wimbledon such a spectacle has returned, it is not quite business as usual despite the buzz around the grounds as the gates swung open at 0900GMT on a breezy morning in southwest London.

For a start, Roger Federer, the king of the lawns with a record eight men’s singles titles, is absent for the first time since winning the junior event in 1998.

The 40-year-old Swiss is recovering from a knee injury and has not played since losing to Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals a year ago.

Also missing is men’s world number one Daniil Medvedev after organizers banned Russian and Belarusian players in response to the invasion of Ukraine while women’s defending champion Ash Barty has retired.

The ban on Russians and Belarusians prompted the ATP and WTA to take away ranking points from Wimbledon this year.

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Play is also scheduled for 14 days, rather than the traditional 13, with middle Sunday no longer a rest day, meaning the end of so-called Manic Monday when all the men’s and women’s fourth-round matches used to be played.

Plot lines

While the build-up to Wimbledon has been mired in controversy, there are enough plot lines to suggest the next fortnight could be a classic edition.

Serena Williams returns after a year out, gunning for the 24th Grand Slam singles title that has eluded her since 2017.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic was due to open play on Centre Court on Monday as he seeks to defend his title, win a 21st Grand Slam crown and close the gap on Rafa Nadal who has a record 22.

Spaniard Nadal is halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam after winning the Australian and French Opens.

Briton Emma Raducanu’s appearance is being billed as a “homecoming” after her extraordinary U.S. Open title win as a qualifier and the spotlight will be fully focused on the teenager when she faces Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck after Djokovic’s match against Kwon Soon-woo.

With the famous Centre Court celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, the opening day has a very British flavor with twice former champion Andy Murray concluding the action against Australian James Duckworth.

Murray is one of 17 British players in the singles draws — the largest home contingent since 2001.

While the stage is set for a feast of tennis over the next two weeks, a rain shower half an hour after play started put a dampener on the early action.

Some things, it seems, never change.

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