Wimbledon was the first organised tennis tournament
in the world, it is the only Grand Slam that still
uses grass and is the biggest tennis event of the
year.There are 20 grass courts available for play.
Wimbledon Number 1 Court now comes complete with large
fans at either end to dry out the court in case of
rain. There are also five red shale courts, four clay
courts, and five indoor courts for club members.
The main court is called Centre Court, while Court
1 hosts other important matches. Court 2 bears the
nickname The Graveyard, since it is here that many
seeded players are knocked out
Events introduction:
1877: Men's singles
1884: Women's singles & men's doubles
1913: Women's doubles & mixed doubles
First Wimbledon final winner - 1877 - From a field
of 22 players, Spencer Gore, at 27 , in front of an
audience of just 200 defeated William Marshall in
straight sets in 48 minutes.
Since 1877, the Championships, have only ever been
disrupted by the World Wars ,(and rain) four years
being lost during the First and six during the Second.
1922 : a new tennis complex was built at Church Road
for 14,000 spectators, which helped enlarge the popularity
and fame of the Championships.
Last British man to win Wimbledon was Fred Perryin
1936 a three-time Wimbledon champion.
Last British lady to win Wimbledon was Virginia Wade
in 1977
During World War II, a bomb ripped through Centre
Court at the All England Club and 1,200 seats were
lost. Fortunately, they weren't filled at the time.
Play finally resumed in 1946 but it wasn't until 1949
that the area was back in top shape
Commencing in 1949 all champions have received a miniature
replica of the trophy (diameter 8 inches).
In 1967, the first match was sent on colour TV. It
was a BBC production.
Over 300 pupils from local schools compete annually
for the prestige of being one of the 200 ball boys/girls
at The Championships. Ball boys and girls drawn solely
from local schools since 1969 and 1977, respectively.
The 1973 tournament was beset by a players' strike
which saw 79 players - and 13 of the 16 seeds - withdraw
because the player Nikki Pilic was suspended., leaving
Jan Kodes, the new number two seed to take the title.
Jan Kodes and Billie Jean King won the Singles Championships.
In 1976, the Swedish player Björn Borg won his
first Singles title.
In 1977, the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum was opened
The prize money in 1968 was £2000 - Men's Singles,
£750 - Ladies Singles , £800 - Men's Doubles,
£450 - Ladies Dbs
In 2004 the men's singles winner receives £602,500
, while the women's winner gets £560,000.
Wimbledon has two show courts -- Centre Court (which
holds 13,800) and No. 1 Court (11,400).
Wimbledon starts on the sixth monday before the first
monday of August ,
Wimbledon starting dates for the next years are :
June 20 , 2005 - June 26, 2006 - June 25, 2007 - June
23, 2008 - June 22, 2009 - June 21, 2010 - June 20,
2011 ,
There are propositions which might consider increasing
the dates gap between Roland Garros ( French Open
) and Wimbledon, future dates are therefore subject
to changes.
Plans for the modernizing of Centre Court were presented
in January 2004 and included a transparent retractable
roof over Centre Court as well as an increase capacity
to 15,000. Work should start in 2006.
Wimbledon weather facts :
Rain delays: years when play extended into a third
week :1919, 1922, 1925, 1927, 1930, 1963, 1972, 1973,
1982, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001
Years with no rain : 1931, 1976, 1977, 1993, 1995
Other relevant years
1949 - the best ever , sunshine for the whole championship
1955 - extreme downpour flooded the tunnels next to
Centre Court
1976 - hottest on record, in fact summer 1976 was
a memorable great summer for the whole of England
1985 - a storm saw over an inch of rain falling in
20 minutes
1991 - by far the wettest first week ever - after
4 days only 52 of 240 matches were completed!
Debentures tickets :A debenture is a form of borrowing
by a firm. It may issue debentures of a fixed value
- say £5000 or £10000 - at a certain rate
of interest. These debentures may be bought by individuals
or by financial institutions. The debentures will
have a fixed time period, after which they will be
paid back. This may be 5 or 10 years or in some cases
even longer. In some cases they carry perks with them.
Much of the new number 1 court at Wimbledon was funded
by issuing debentures in return for which people get
preferential deals on ticket
Linux IBM Real-Time solutions and Scoreboard. Over
1000 statistics are collected simultaneously for every
match on the 18 courts,every point, for every match
in real time.
Wimbledon organizers take into consideration a player's
grass-court expertise and Wimbledon record in seeding
the top 16 men and 16 women
About 42,000 tennis balls are used in the plus-minus
650 matches in the Wimbledon Championship.
Yellow balls were used for the first time in 1986
partly to make the speeding balls more visible for
television cameras and have to be stored at 68°F
.
There are over 200 ball boys and girls
Slazenger has provided every tennis ball for The Championships
Wimbledon since 1902.
New balls are supplied after every 7 to 9 games. 1,250
dozen balls are used during the tournament.
The Centre Court seats 13,813 people and the Club
grounds hold 34,500 spectators
There are 687 matches in total during the tournament
The “Players must play predominately in white”
rule was introduced in 1963 and the “Almost entirely
in white” rule was introduced in 1995
The referee can decide whether players are dressed
appropriately
The new translucent cover was introduced onto the
Centre Court in 1998 and weighs 1 ton (wet and dry)
It takes 17 people 30 seconds to cover the court
Women's fashions have caused a similar stir. When
Gussie Moran wore a short, lace trimmed skirt in 1949
she was accused by the AELTC of 'bringing vulgarity
and sin into tennis' Quite a contrast to the revealing
clothing sported by today's women players!
35% of the viewers of Wimbledon worldwide made more
than $50,000 annually
Great Britain is 5 hours ahead of E.S.T. If it's 8:00am
in Boston, it's 1:00pm in London. Great Britain is
one hour ahead of its continental cousins (France,
Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany) but
in the same time zone as the Republic of Ireland and
Portugal.
The Royal box contains 75 dark green Lloyd Loom wicker
chairs
The guest list is released on the day for security
reasons
Highest attendance was in 2001 with 490,081,them play
was extended into the fourteen day.
Shortest Finals : Men’s Singles - W.C. Renshaw
(BRI) bt J.T. Hartley (BRI), 1881 37 mins 6-0, 6-1,
6-1
Shortest Finals : Ladies’s Singles - Miss S.R.F.
Lenglen (FRA) bt. Mrs. F.I. Mallory (USA), 1922
Longest Finals: Men’s Singles -J.Connors bt J.P.
McEnroe (USA) 1982 4 hrs 16 min 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7),
7-6 (7-5), 6-4
Longest Finals: Ladies’s Singles - Mrs B.M Court
(AUS) bt. Mrs L.W. King (USA), 1970 2 hrs 28 mins
14-12, 11-9
Longest Matches : Men - G. Holmes (USA) bt. T. Witsken
(USA), 1989 5 hrs 28 mins 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6,
14-12
Longest Matches : Ladies - Miss C Rubin (USA) bt.
Mrs. P. Hy-Boulais (CAN), 1995 3 hrs 45 mins 7-6 (7-4),
6-7 (5-7), 17-15 2
High attendance for a normal 13 days, was again in
2001 with 476,711
High attendance for a single day was in June 26th
2002 with 42,457 visitors.
The shortest person to play tennis at Wimbledon was
Miss C.G. Hoahing who was just 4'9. She was once mistaken
for a garden gnome and used to decorate the colorful
flower gardens around Wimbledon's tennis courts.
The tallest competitor was I. Karlovic from Croatia
), in 2003 he stands at 6 feet, 10 inches
Women's singles and men's doubles were introduced
in 1884 and women's doubles and mixed doubles in 1913
The greatest number of titles by a man has been 13
by Hugh Laurence Doherty (Great Britain) (1875-1919)
with five singles titles (1902-6) and a record eight
men's doubles (1897-1901, 1903-5) partnered by his
brother Reginald Frank (1872-1910).
The most titles won by a US man is seven by John Patrick
McEnroe (b. 16 February 1959), singles 1981, 1983
and 1984; men's doubles (all with Peter Fleming) 1979,
1981, 1983-84.
Billie-Jean King (nee Moffit ; b. 22 November 1943)
won a record 20 titles between 1961 and 1979, six
singles, ten women's doubles and four mixed doubles.
Elizabeth Montague Ryan (USA) (1892-1979) won a record
19 doubles (12 women's, 7 mixed) titles from 1914
to 1934.
Most Ladies Singles titles: Martina Navratilova won
a record nine titles, 1978-79, 1982-87 and 1990.
Most Men's Singles titles : Pete Sampras won 7 titles
, 1993-1995, 1997-98 -99 -2000 .Sampras is known as
"Pistol Pete" due to his strong, powerful
and precise serve.
The most men's singles wins since the Challenge Round
was abolished in 1922 is five consecutively, by Bjorn
Borg (Sweden) in 1976-80.
William Charles Renshaw (Great Britain) (1861-1904)
won seven singles in 1881-6 and 1889. Mixed doubles
The male record is four titles shared by: Elias Victor
Seixas (USA) (b. 30 August 1923), in 1953-56; Kenneth
Norman Fletcher (Aus) (b. 15 June 1940), in 1963,
1965-66, 1968; and Owen Keir Davidson (Aus) (b. 4
October 1943) in 1967, 1971, 1973-74.
The female record is seven by Elizabeth Ryan (USA)
from 1919 to 1932.
The youngest women's singles champion is Charlotte
Dod, who won the title in 1887 when she was 15 and
285 days.
Martina Hingis in 1996, at age 15 also won the Ladies
singles titlewasand was 15-years, 282-days old, when
she won the women’s doubles with Helena Sukova
of Czech Republic, ( 1996 )
The youngest male champion was Boris Becker (West
Germany) (b. 22 November 1967) who won the men's singles
title in 1985 at 17 yr 227 days.
The youngest ever player at Wimbledon was Mita Klima
(Austria) who was 13 yr in the 1907 singles competition.
The youngest seed was Jennifer Capriatti (USA) (b.
29 March 1976) at 14 yr 89 days at the time of her
first match on 26 June 1990. She won this match making
her the youngest ever winner at Wimbledon.
The oldest champion was Margaret Evelyn du Pont at
44 yr 125 days when she won the mixed doubles in 1962
with Neale Fraser (Australia).
The oldest men's singles champion is Arthur Gore,
who won the title in 1909 at 41 years, 182 days.
The oldest women's singles champion is Charlotte Sterry,
who won the title in 1908 at 37 years, 282 days.
May Sutton of the United States became the first non
European champion in 1905 by winning the singles title.
Most appearances , Arthur William Charles 'Wentworth'
Gore (1868-1928) (Great Britain) made a record 36
appearances at Wimbledon between 1888 and 1927. In
1964,
Longest Wimbledon Career: Jean Borotra (b. 13 August
1898) of France did not easily give up, he entered
in the men's singles competition 35 times between
1922 and 1964. His last title coming at the age of
41 .
In 1977 he appeared in the Veterans' Doubles at the
ripe age of 78 . That's a 55 years span Wimbledon
love affair.
The Ladies' Singles Trophy is a silver salver, sometimes
referred to as the 'Rosewater Dish' or 'Venus Rosewater
Dish' which was first won by the Champion when the
challenge round was introduced in 1886.
The last married woman to win the women's singles
championship was Chris Evert Lloyd in 1981.
Anna Kournikova made it to the semi finals at Wimbledon
in 1997
Wimbledon earns $14 million from sponsorships alone
The funds generated by the tournament , less tax,
maintenance and other running costs are used by the
Lawn Tennis Association to develop tennis in Great
Britain. In 1879 it was £116, in 2003 it reached
£ £25,800,000
A wooden racket was last used at Wimbledon in 1987.
Wimbledon moved to its present site in Church Road
in 1922.
At Wimbledon, men must play up to 5 sets to win, while
women only play 3 sets
Known as the 'Four Musketeers', Jean Borotra, Jacques
Brugnon, Henri Cochet and Rene Lacoste won six singles
and five doubles titles between them over the course
of a decade (1920-1930)
British Player Greg Rusedski has the world's fastest
serve, clocked at a staggering 149 mph. In 1999 he
served 685 aces, accounting for 79% of all his points
for the year.
Venus Williams became the second African American
woman to win the GrandSlam title at the 2000 Wimbledon
tennis competition, which is held annually inEngland.
She follows the progress made by Althea Gibson, an
American whowon the Wimbledon competition in 1957
and 1958
In the 2001 men's final the average speed of Goran
Ivanisevic's serve was 125mph, which gave Pat Rafter
an average 0.44 seconds to return the serve
The last married woman to win the women's singles
championship was Chris Evert Lloyd in 1981.
The traditions of Wimbledon, such as the rule that
the players must wear predominantly white, referring
to players as "Mr", "Mrs" and
"Miss",
The Tournament starts each year six weeks before the
first Monday in August and lasts for a fortnight or
for as long as necessary to complete all events. Players
from over 60 nations regularly compete.
IBM and Rolex are the most prominent sponsors of the
game. They dole out millions of dollars in sponsorship
fees...
NBC TV will pay $ 52 Million in annual rights fee
for the next 4 years to Wimbledon
TV Coverage: in 2003 Wimbledon was shown in 164 territories
with 5717 hours of TV coverage accessible by 574 million
homes , 68% was broadcast live. In the UK, BBCi made
availalable 416 hours of interactive tennis. Approximately
2 billion television viewers.
Hours by territory: Europe 2509 - Asia Pacific 1449
- Latin America 720 - Africa Middle East 628 - North
America 360
Unofficial figures point to the fact that 75% of tennis
fans prefer to watch the women's game.
The feature film, Wimbledon, shot partly during the
2003 Championships, is released in 2004. Paul Bettany
stars as a British player world ranked 157 who finds
romance and inspiration with American champion Kirsten
Dunst.
27,000 kilos of strawberries are eaten at Wimbledon
Tennis Championships along with about 7,000 litres
of cream.
Each year, 24 tons of Kent strawberries are ordered
for The Championships at Wimbledon.
Approximately 25,000 petunias, 26,000 geraniums and
3,500 hydrangeas are supplied each year
312,000 bottles of water was consumed along with more
than 14,000 bottles of champagne at Wimbledon 2002.
335,000 cups of tea and coffee are consumed in the
14 days
150,000 buns, scone, pastries and doughnuts
140,000 ice –creams are bought
95,000 pints of draught beer and lager are guzzled
80,000 half pints of Pimms
30,000 portions of fish and chips
27,000 kilos of English strawberries are eaten
12,500 bottles of champagne
12,000 kilos of poached and smoked salmon
The data listed above have
been compiled from books, journals, reviews and internet
resources, figures and/or facts do change from time
to time but are correct to the best of our knowledge
. We are continuously updating the listing
