Entertainment
Who will replace Kate Middleton to present Wimbledon ladies’ trophy?
The Princess of Wales will attend Wimbledon for the men’s singles final on Sunday in her first public appearance since Trooping The Colour in June.
Kate will hand over the trophy to the winner between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, Kensington Palace confirmed.
However, she will not be at the All England Club to present the women’s singles champion with their trophy on Saturday afternoon.
Fortunately, contingency plans were put in place for the princess missing either final as Kate continues her preventative cancer treatment.
So, who is filling in for her on Saturday afternoon to give the Venus Rosewater Dish to either Jasmine Paolini or Barbora Krejcikova?
Who is replacing Kate at Wimbledon’s women’s singles final?
Wimbledon chairwoman Debbie Jevans will fill in for Kate to present the women’s champion trophy on her behalf today.
The final is being contested by Italian seventh seed Paolini and Czech number 31 seed Barbora Krejcikova.
Had Kate also missed the men’s final, plans had been put in place for the Duchess of Gloucester, an Honorary President of the Lawn Tennis Association for 25 years, to present that trophy, according to The Telegraph.
However, it will instead be an exact repeat of 2023, with Kate watching on to see if 37-year-old Djokovic can reclaim his Wimbledon crown from Alcaraz, 21.
She, and everyone else on Centre Court on Sunday, will be hoping for something close to last year’s five-set thriller between the two which saw the Spaniard win his first British grand slam.
Who is Debbie Jevans?
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Debbie Jevans, born May 20, 1960, is chairwoman of the All England Club.
Appointed in January 2023, she is the organisation’s first ever female chair, and formerly appeared on it’s hallowed turf herself as a player.
After winning the Wimbledon junior tournament as a teenager, Ms Jevans competed in 10 grand slams as a player between 1979 and 1983.
Her best performance came on home soil when she reached the fourth round in SW19, losing to multiple slam-winner Virginia Wade.
She also competed in the doubles tournament with her future husband, and umpire, Andrew Jarrett.
Aged just 27, Ms Jevans became director of the Women’s Game at the International Tennis Federation – and four years later in 1991, she rose to General Secretary.
She made more history in 2003, when she became the first woman to be appointed Director of Sport for an Olympic organising committee – for the 2012 games in London.
Having made a success of that, Ms Jevans was granted the revered chief executive position for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but this controversially come with a whopping six-figure pay-off as she left less than six months before the Cup.
She has also worked in football with the English Football League.
The spearheading sports pro has been tight-lipped when it comes to her private life – but tell the BBC in 2014 that she was ‘amicably divorced’ from Mr Jarrett.