FANS fumed at the bungling BBC’s Wimbledon broadcast – which cut away from showing the tennis for more than THREE MINUTES.
Dan Evans took on Novak Djokovic on Centre Court in round two.
The Brit served to stay in the set at 5-1 down.
But after missing his first serve on the opening point, the TV cameras bizarrely cut away.
For about one minute, an angle thought to be from the BBC studio showed a chair in the foreground and a blurry image of the walkways around the All England Club.
Then for nearly two-and-a-half further minutes, live footage of tennis fans enjoying the afternoon sunshine on Henman Hill filled the screen.
The sound and commentary from Centre Court continued as Evans held for 5-2.
And it was not until the end of the changeover – three minutes and 23 seconds after cutting away from the match – that the BBC went back to the live feed from Wimbledon’s main show court.
It is understood both BBC One and BBC Two were hit by the error, which was not addressed on air by the commentators.
Viewers trying to watch Evans battling against Djokovic blasted the Beeb’s blunder.
One said: “Why are we only seeing a picture of Henman Hill rather than Centre Court?”
Another wrote: “Why are we watching everyone sat on Henman Hill instead of Evans vs Djokovic?”
A third moaned: “Who is in charge of broadcasting the Championship, is it the latest trainee? Really poor.”
A fourth complained: “I mean the coverage has been absolutely terrible. Moving court coverage around without any reason, not showing the Brits, not saying what is on iPlayer. Now we have a fantastic showing of Henman Hill with no tennis. Just give up guys.”
Incredibly, it meant the Beeb missed 20 per cent of Evans’ games as he lost 6-3 6-2 6-0 to the seven-time champion – losing his 1-0 100 per cent winning record after a shock win at Monte Carlo in 2021.
The mistake comes two days after British tennis fans were unable to watch the start of Jack Draper’s opening match of the tournament.
The BBC News was on at 6pm – just as Alexander Zverev was playing a crucial tie-break on Centre Court.
So BBC bosses opted to stick with the tie-break before switching over to Draper.
Elsewhere, the broadcasters were mocked for their hilariously big microphone given to Iga Swiatek for her radio interview.
But on a more serious note, reports this week suggest the BBC face a battle from TNT Sports and Sky Sports to retain the rights for Wimbledon beyond their current deal which runs until 2027.
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