Sense of normality returnspublished at 12:33 British Summer Time 7 July 2021
Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport at Wimbledon
The cheer which greeted Karolina Pliskova and Viktorija Golubic onto Court One on Tuesday lunchtime might not have been the loudest of the Wimbledon fortnight, but it had the deepest significance.
As the pair strode out, they looked up to see fans sat around all parts of the stadium. No masks, no two metres of separation, no fear.
This day marked another step back towards sporting 'normality' in the UK. Capacity crowds were allowed to watch matches on Centre Court and Court One at the All England Club.
It was the first major UK sporting event to be allowed 100%-full stadiums since the coronavirus pandemic began.
"Everyone has waited a long time for this. The fact it is fully open at Wimbledon - such an iconic event - made us feel very excited," said Raj Gill, a 25-year-old trainee pilot who had tickets for Centre Court with his girlfriend Prem Nandrha.
Hearing the 15,000-seater court would have a full house again made bagging tickets "even better", added 23-year-old devops engineer Prem.
"You want the atmosphere. And bringing the extra capacity back means it has an extra 'oomph'," she said.