This erstwhile garden-party tournament, which began in 1877, has grown to become one of the world's favourite sporting events.
The world's oldest major tennis championship, fought out for two weeks between late June and early July at south London's All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, is the third Grand Slam tournament of the year and the only one still played on grass.
The world's oldest major tennis championship, fought out for two weeks between late June and early July at south London's All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, is the third Grand Slam tournament of the year and the only one still played on grass.
The most important matches are played on the main Centre Court. It hosts the semi-finals and finals of the main events (gentlemen's singles, ladies' singles, gentlemen's doubles, ladies' doubles and mixed doubles), plus many earlier round matches featuring top-seeded players.
In 2009 Wimbledon unveiled a revamped Centre Court, with a new retractable roof over the court (thus avoiding rain delays). The roof, which is translucent and allows natural light to reach the grass, takes at least 10 minutes to close.
In 2010 overall attendance was 489,946, with a record-breaking final Sunday (32,036). A total of 31,360 kg of strawberries were consumed over the fortnight, and 54,250 Slazenger balls were used during the tournament. There were no rain interruptions, adding 2010 to the (very short) roster of rain-free championships: 1922, 1931, 1976, 1977, 1993, 1995, 2010.
The 124th Championships in 2010 saw a record-breaking, and unforgettable, first round men's singles between John Isner of the USA and France's Nicolas Mahut. The match, which stretched over three days, lasted 11 hours, five minutes, and totalled 183 games. Isner was the winner, with the staggering scoreline of 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68, but crashed out, exhausted, in the following round.
Men's favouriteand defending champion Roger Federer was defeated in the quarter-finals by the up and coming Czech player Tomas Berdych, who went on to meet Rafael Nadal in the final. With a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 victory, Nadal won his second Wimbledon title and confirmed his place as the world number one player. Serena Williams sailed to victory over Russia's Vera Zvonareva, 6-3, 6-2, taking her fourth Wimbledon singles title.
Andy Murray, who played brilliantly throughout the tournament, succumbed to Nadal in straight sets in the semi-finals. British tennis enthusiasts will have to wait another year before he can once again make an attempt on that elusive, much-cherished, title.
Most tickets for these courts are sold in advance via a public ballot, entry for which closes in December. However, Wimbledon is the only major Grand Slam where fans can queue for tickets for the same day's matches on Centre Court, No. 1 Court and No. 2 Court (overnight queuing is generally required to guarantee a ticket).
There are six designated car parks, plus a park and ride shuttle-bus service from the A3.
News Source: http://www.wimbledon.org