Will Djokovic, Williams or Federer be given the Presidential Suite?

Wimbledon to look very different in 2021 as players stay in central London hotel with single rooms costing £220 a night… but will Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams or Roger Federer be given the keys to the Presidential Suite?

• Battersea Dogs Home and the Power Station will be on the route to Wimbledon
• The Park Plaza hotel is situated just to the south of Westminster Bridge
• The 1,019-room hotel has been block-booked for three weeks in June and July 
• The 63 suites have balconies – but who will be given the Presidential Suite? 
• No Nick Kyrgios-style trips to local pubs will be permitted during the tournament

Few players at Wimbledon this year, bar the canine-loving Andy Murray and Jo Konta, will be familiar with Battersea Dogs Home.

Yet the chances are that they will all be by the end of their stay at the Championships.

For the famous animal rescue centre is one of the landmarks they will pass, at snail’s pace, on their journey to and from the courts during what will be a highly unusual tournament.

Tennis stars will get used to the sight of Battersea Dogs Home as they travel to Wimbledon

Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep will be looking to defend their singles titles from 2019

Complying with Government instruction, this year the players are foregoing the cherished habit of many, which sees them stay in private houses within easy reach of the All England Club.

There will be no leisurely stroll to Wimbledon’s lawns or quick hop in a chauffeur-driven car. Instead, to remain in the Minimised Risk Environment, they will be laboriously ferried to and from the giant Park Plaza hotel on the south side of Westminster Bridge.

The Mail on Sunday recently made the trip there and back from SW19, and checked in for a night to give them a flavour of what will be very different from their normal Wimbledon experience.

And for those successful enough to have a long stay it may jar, by comparison. It will, however, only be like the US Open, where a huge transport operation takes them daily from Manhattan to Queens.

Wimbledon’s options were limited when they were told they had to set up a huge bubble for the multinational assembly of competitors, as London has a surprisingly small number of big hotels.

The one selected and block-booked for three weeks is actually the capital’s third largest, offering 1,019 rooms for participants.

Built in 2010 on the site of an old County Hall annex, it is a giant pod that occupies the whole of a busy roundabout set 100 metres back from the Thames.

Satnavs will plot the fastest route, and there are several ways of reaching it, depending on traffic. When we did it, the late-afternoon trek from Wimbledon took exactly 40 minutes, while the mid-morning return was stickier at 47 minutes.

Mainly hugging the south side of the Thames, players will become acquainted with this part of London’s rapidly changing face.

Even players who live locally to Wimbledon will stay at the Park Plaza hotel during the fortnight

They will pass through the eclectic mix of mansion blocks and 60s housing estates. Then, as you get closer to Westminster, there is the staggering array of new development around Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms.

Unfortunately there are some awful messes accompanying the frantic construction works, such as close to the Dogs Home and the area skirting the relatively new American Embassy. At times they will experience the single-lane congestion caused by the expansion of cycle lanes.

The British players who live close to Wimbledon, but are nonetheless obliged to move out, may have particular cause to reflect on this as they grind to a standstill.

What they will find upon arrival is a large, comfortable four-star hotel that is used to catering for a mix of business and tourist travel, and they will be greeted by a courteous army of staff.

It has remained open during the pandemic, housing mainly NHS workers and apparently some politicians. 

When we visited the occupancy was at a steadily rising 20 per cent, but that will soon change.

‘It’s exciting, but we are not meant to talk about it,’ said one staff member of their impending influx of pristine athletes.

Battersea Power Station will be another of the landmarks players pass on the way to the courts

The guests will discover, via room allocations, that as with everything in tennis, some players are more equal than others.

While the hotel has no outside space, the 63 suites do have balconies, and these are likely to go to the seeded players or those with families in tow.

Most intriguing will be to see who gets the sumptuous Presidential Suite. Will it be HRH Roger Federer, or Serena Williams perhaps, or might it be defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic? The last women’s winner, Simona Halep, does not have children.

Perhaps it is just as well that its location limits the chance to see other people enjoy simple freedoms, such as eating out or having a drink. 

Players are booked in on a full-board basis by Wimbledon and it will not be permitted to nip out and enjoy the many nearby riverside dining establishments.

Nick Kyrgios-style visits to join local revellers are definitely forbidden until they are out of the tournament and the bubble, not to return.

Will Serena Williams or Roger Federer get their hands on the keys to the Presidential Suite?

Many will get a view of St Thomas’s hospital, which serves as a potent reminder of why such a cautious approach is being taken to their stay. It was here, in the dark days of April 2020, that Boris Johnson was treated for Covid.

You suspect that the windowless lounge bar, which has lots of leather sofas, will get quite busy. The coaches are likely to be its most regular customers, if other tennis bubbles are anything to go by.

Some will avail themselves of the 15-metre indoor swimming pool, but gym provision is limited.

The facilities are likely to be added to by using the hotel’s many function spaces to provide extra fitness and dining areas for the players. 

They will be allowed to book one extra room for their support staff, at a cost of £220 per night for a single and £280 for a double, on a full board basis.

A hearty breakfast was included in our stay, although some players may balk at the concentrated orange juice and tinned fruit.

Nick Kyrgios-style trips to join revellers in the pubs of Wimbledon are strictly forbidden in 2021

The large majority have been fairly stoic when it comes to moving from bubble to bubble over many months. 

The opportunity to earn minimum Wimbledon first-round prize money of around £50,000 will serve as a strong incentive to swallow the adjustment to their living conditions.

Next year, however, most will be happy to swap their very urban lodgings of 2021 for the green spaces of SW19, and a blessedly short commute to their place of work.

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