Interesting facts about Wimbledon

Summer in Britain is heralded each June by the two-week tennis competition known as The Championships, Wimbledon. Wimbledon, as it is commonly called, is organized by the All England Club in the Wimbledon district, a suburb of London. Wimbledon is one of the four tournaments that make up the Grand Slam of Tennis. The early summer tournament at Wimbledon stands as the oldest and most respected tennis tournament in the world.

Wimbledon began humbly in 1877. A mere 200 spectators doled out a shilling each to watch Spencer Gore defeat William Marshall in the final to become the first Wimbledon champion. Gore was unable to defend his championship the following year when Frank Haddow, inventor of the high kick, defeated him in the final. Following his defeat, Gore quickly withdrew from the tennis tournament. Sixty-four different men have earned the title of Knights since then.

More than a century later, 32,036 people gathered on the last day of Wimbledon to see Spain’s Rafael Nadal successfully defend his title against Tomas Berdych. Total attendance for the two weeks of the 2010 tournament was approximately half a million, while another five million watched worldwide on television. Wimbledon was first televised in 1937 by the British Broadcasting Company, which still holds the Wimbledon broadcast rights. The British government orders the finals to be broadcast live on television.

Wimbledon consists of singles and doubles competitions. While most people are familiar with Wimbledon’s high-profile men’s and women’s events, there are also categories for juniors, seniors and wheelchair participants. In total, there are fourteen different championship events.

The Wimbledon champions list is dotted with tennis legends. The record for the most Gentlemen’s Singles titles is seven, shared by William Renshaw and Pete Sampras. Sampras won his titles in the modern open era when professionals were allowed to compete at Wimbledon. Before 1968, participation was limited to amateurs. Martina Navritalova holds the record for women’s singles titles with nine. She achieved six of these in consecutive years. Other notable champions include seven-time winner Steffi Graf and six-time winners Roger Federer and Billie Jean King. Bjorn Borg and Venus Williams have each triumphed at Wimbledon five times.

Traditions abound at Wimbledon. The most significant of these traditions are the grass courts on which the Championships are played. Wimbledon is the last of the big tennis tournaments to be played on grass, a hard and unpredictable surface that favors big hitters. The traditional colors of Wimbledon are green and purple. Until 2006, all officials were drawn in green. Players are required to wear white, although some color accents are gradually creeping onto the pitch. A delicious edible tradition at Wimbledon is to devour strawberries and cream. Thousands of pounds of strawberries and gallons of ice cream are consumed at Wimbledon each summer. Wimbledon even has a literary tradition. On their way to Center Court, players must walk under two lines of Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If.” And of course it wouldn’t be England without the rain. Only six championships have gone uninterrupted by rain since 1922.

All sports have their first events. Baseball plays the World Series. Hockey teams skate for the Stanley Cup. A win at the Masters is considered golf’s greatest achievement. But none of these events can match Wimbledon’s long history, colorful traditions and legendary tennis champions.