Wimbledon experiences hottest day ever with high of 35.7C

The highest temperature in Wimbledon history was recorded on Wednesday, but two of the biggest names in tennis claim the intense heat was not a major issue for them.

The Met Office said a temperature of 35.7C was recorded at Kew Gardens, the nearest observation site to the All England Club, beating the previous record of 34.6C from 1976.

One victim of the weather was a ball boy who collapsed on Court 17 during the men’s singles match between Australian Matthew Ebden and American John Isner – and was taken to hospital.

Afterwards, an All England Club spokesman said: "He's sitting up and is conversant but has been sent to hospital for a precautionary check-up."

A number have suggested that Wimbledon organisers should introduce a heat break rule, similar to one that already exists in all tournaments run by the WTA Tour.

A rule on the women's tour allows for a 10-minute break between the second and third sets when the heat stress index rises above 30.1 degrees Celsius.

However, men's top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic says the heat on Wednesday was of no concern: "It wasn't as bad as I thought.

"People were talking about it and predicting really difficult conditions. But I didn't find it as difficult as I thought it might be."

And his comments were echoed by former women’s champion Maria Sharapova: "It's much warmer in my home town of Long Boat Key, Florida.

“There's some cloud coverage. I've trained quite long in the heat over there."

Isner, who won his match against Ebden, did not suffer unduly: "I'm glad I played on this day, I like playing in the heat.

"It wasn't too humid out there. I do train in Florida and it's way worse in Florida than it was here today."  

But Australian Bernard Tomic was affected by the high temperatures at SW19, saying: "I was very dizzy out there. I didn't sleep well yesterday or the day before.

“Probably getting just three or four hours of sleep, I was fatigued and starting to get dizzy out there with the heat hitting me."

Three-time former champion John McEnroe believes the ATP Tour should follow the WTA’s lead by introducing a heat rule which could also be implemented at Wimbledon.

The 56-year-old American said: "The tournament directors rule the ATP too much in my opinion. The players should rule it, as they should rule Wimbledon and the other majors.

"If we get them all together we could do something for this wonderful sport we have, including taking a 10-minutes break if it's so hot here at Wimbledon."      

The WTA heat rule was introduced in 1992 but has only been used twice at Wimbledon, in 2006 and 2009.

It appears the main victims in south west London have been spectators, according to St John Ambulance which handles emergency calls at Wimbledon.

The charity said it has treated more than 200 people so far and press officer Bijal Patel explained: "We are really busy on the ground and they just have to prioritise treating people. 

"There's been a lot of kind of awareness-raising of what people should be doing but I don't know if people are going to take that advice.”