BEHIND THE SCENES AT WIMBLEDON: AS SW19 PREPARES FOR A HUGE FORTNIGHT OF TENNIS - AND ANDY MURRAY'S FAREWELL - ANDY HOOPER BRINGS YOU INSIDE THE GATES
- Every week on a Monday, our Soul of Sport series will take readers behind the scenes at top sporting events
- Andy Hooper captured the scene as the finishing touches were put on preparations for this year's Wimbledon
- He also observed the group of fans camping out to ensure they're the first ones in at the All England Club
Welcome back to the Soul of Sport. For our latest episode of the series, ANDY HOOPER documented some of the sights ahead of this year's Wimbledon at the All England Club.
The world's best have descended on west London ahead of the start of the third Grand Slam on the tennis calendar hoping to add their name - or another entry - the hallowed roll call of previous winners.
French Open winner and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz is among the favourites for the crown, while world No 1 Jannik Sinner and all-time great Novak Djokovic are the ones to watch on the men's side of the draw. As for the women. Iga Swiatek, who appears to be unbeatable on clay, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina will be expecting to make deep runs over the next two weeks.
It's could also be the last appearance of two-time winner Andy Murray at the event, who is facing a race against time to be fit for the men's singles. He is also set to compete with his brother Jamie in the men's doubles, which gets underway next week.
Mail Sport's ANDY HOOPER took a peek into the final preparations for the event on Nikon X9 and Z8 cameras with 24-70mm, 70-200mm and 400mm lenses. He captured those eager fans counting down the hours until gates are opened on day one.