The temperatures did not stop more than 10,000 people joining the queue for day one, at which point the All England Club advised people to stop travelling.
Two-time Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur was forced to retire from her opening-round match after becoming unwell.
The Tunisian took a medical time-out in the first set, during which she had her blood pressure taken and had an ice towel draped around her neck.
She decided she could not continue when trailing 7-6 (7-5) 2-0 against Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova, in a match which took place during the midday heat following an 11:00 BST start.
There were varying opinions on the temperature among the players.
“Honestly, I didn’t feel that hot out there. It was hot. I was sweating, but I didn’t really feel like it was that hot, you know,” said American Frances Tiafoe.
“I don’t know if wearing all white really helps as well, but I didn’t really feel that hot. After this I’ll go to [the Washington] Open and play in DC, with the humidity there there’s no faking that. That’s going to be really hot.”
But German Eva Lys, who also came through her first-round match, said: “[It was] tough. Really, really tough. I was sweating a lot, so my racquet was very slippery.
“It’s the first time playing with heat on grass. I feel like it’s really tough on the legs. This is especially what I felt in the third set. I think the spectators didn’t have it easy either, I feel like everyone is kind of struggling with the heat right now.”
BBC Weather’s senior meteorologist George Goodfellow said similar conditions are expected on Tuesday, which will be “dry, sunny and very hot again, with just a very slight breeze at most”.
Goodfellow added: “The high will likely be similar to today, above 30C. We’re going with 33C at Kew Gardens – the nearest observation site to Wimbledon.
“After tomorrow, temperatures will return to nearer normal for the time of year, but that still means above 20C.”
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