Watch Wimbledon 2018, the oldest tennis tournament in the world.

Wimbledon 2018

July 2nd – 15th

Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. Considered the most prestigious tennis Major, it is the only one played on grass. The competition takes place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom over the course of two weeks.

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Wimbledon Fun Facts and Figures

Wimbledon was televised for the first time in 1937 when matches were transmitted by the BBC from Centre Court for up to half an hour each day of the meeting.

In 1967, Wimbledon provided the first ever color broadcast in Britain. More than 80 broadcast organizations are on site.

Approximately 2500 broadcasters work in the Broadcast Centre.

Nine courts have live television coverage (seven after week one), more than any other Grand Slam.

Host broadcaster BBC uses nearly 100 cameras around the grounds during The Championships.

There are positions for 120 commentators on Centre Court alone.

Most (all time)

Gentlemen: 212 – Goran Ivanisevic (CRO) 2001

Ladies: 102 – Serena Williams (USA) 2012

Most (The Championships 2017)

Gentlemen: 139 – Sam Querrey (USA)

Ladies: 35 – Johanna Konta (GBR)

Ball Boys and Ball Girls

Around 250 from around 750 entries come through a rigorous training routine.

Balls

Part of the longest partnership in sporting goods history, Slazenger has been the Official Supplier of tennis balls to The Championships since 1902.

Yellow balls used for the first time in 1986. 54,250 used during The Championships’ period. Stored at 68 deg F. New balls after first seven games (to allow for warm-up), then after every nine games. Subject to availability after use balls sold daily to LTA-affiliated clubs and spectators in the grounds. £2.50 per can of three. Proceeds go to the Wimbledon Foundation. At the start of day 48 tins are taken onto Centre and No.1 Courts and 24 on all outside courts.

Capacity (grounds)

39,000 spectators in the grounds at any one time. Re-selling of used/unwanted tickets for charity creates turnover so the cumulative daily figure can be higher.

Catering

Wimbledon is the largest single annual sporting catering operation (2200 staff) carried out in Europe. Average quantities of food and beverages served at The Championships are below.

– 330,000 cups of tea and coffee

– 320,000 glasses of Pimm’s

– 234,000 meals

– 230,000 bottles of water

– 110,000 pints of draught beer and lager

– 86,000 ice creams

– 76,000 sandwiches

– 35,000 liters of milk

– 30,000 pizzas

– 29,000 bottles of champagne

– 34,000 kg (166,000 servings) of English strawberries

– 110,000 scones

– 17,000 portions of fish and chips

– 2,200-afternoon tea hampers

– 10,000 liters of dairy cream

– 2,200kg of bananas

Champions’ Dinner

Instigated in 1977 when the LTA Ball previously held on the final evening of The Championships was moved to the middle Saturday.

The tradition of dancing between the two Singles Champions ceased then.

In 2017, Champions’ Dinner was held at the Guildhall.

Charity

– £173,212.50 – money raised from the Ticket Resale scheme, whereby Show Court tickets no longer required are re-sold to spectators already in the Grounds

– £346,425 – total funds donated to the Wimbledon Foundation after Official Supplier HSBC has matched the Ticket Resale scheme figure. Proceeds distributed to charities through the Wimbledon Foundation’s grant programmes

See Wimbledon Foundation for more.

Clothing – players

The “predominately in white” rule was introduced in 1963 before the “almost entirely in white rule” was brought in in 1995. Accessories were included in the rule from 2014. Competitors must be dressed in suitable tennis attire that is almost entirely white, and this applies from the point at which the player enters the court surround.

Both Grand Slam and WTA rules stipulate recognized tennis attire. A decision on the day as to whether clothing/players’ turnout is suitable at the discretion of Referee. Guidelines:

– No solid mass of coloring

– Little or no dark or bold color

– No fluorescent colors

– Preference towards pastel colors

– Preference for the back of the shirt to be white

– Preference for shorts and skirts to be white

All other items of clothing including hats, socks, and shoes to be almost entirely white.

Court (Centre)

14,979 seats.

Finals match scheduled to be played on Centre Court:

Saturday 14 July 2018: Ladies’ Singles, Gentlemen’s Doubles, Ladies’ Doubles

Sunday 15 July 2018: Gentlemen’s Singles, Mixed Doubles

Court (Centre) – roof stats

– 8 liters per second of fresh air per person pumped into the bowl to manage the environment

– Nine chiller units required to cool the air

Membership of Club

– Five categories: Full, Life, Honorary, Temporary, and Junior Temporary

– Full and Life Membership limited to 375 (the number of seats in the old Worple Road stand). All enjoy full privileges.

– Hon members elected by the Committee and mostly past singles champions and other people who have given special service to the sport.

– Around 120 Temp members also elected by the Committee. Renewed annually.

– To become a member must be proposed seconded and supported by four existing Full Members, all of whom are required to write in support of the application.

– A waiting list of about 1000 dating back many years.

Merchandise

During The Championships 2017, more than 151,000 retail transactions took place in the Wimbledon Shop, including:

– 46,408 Baseball Caps

– 30,386 Championships Towels

– 17,195 Crossed Rackets Logo T-Shirts

– 9,721 Autograph Balls

– 8,882 Umbrellas

– 1,334 Panama Hats

Middle Sunday

There is usually no play scheduled on middle Sunday to allow the courts to recover from intensive use of Week 1 and be thoroughly watered to ensure optimum performance in Week 2. Play has taken place on Middle Sunday four occasions: in 1991, 1997, 2004, 2016.

Officials

– Chairman: Philip Brook (2011)

– Chief Executive: Richard Lewis (2012)

– Referee: Andrew Jarrett (2006)

– Chief of Umpires: Adrian Wilson (2016)

– Head of Courts and Horticulture: Neil Stubley (2013)

Official Suppliers 2018 (13)

– Slazenger Official Ball (began in 1902)

– Robinsons Official Still Soft Drink (began in 1935)

– Rolex Official Timekeeper (began in 1978)

– IBM Official Supplier of Information Technology (began in 1990)

– Lanson Official Champagne (began in 2001)

– Ralph Lauren Official Outfitter (began in 2006)

– HSBC Official Banking Partner (began in 2008)

– Evian Official Bottled Water (began in 2008)

– Lavazza Official Coffee (began in 2011)

– Stella Artois Official Beer (began in 2014)

– Jaguar Official Car (began in 2015)

– Häagen-Dazs Official Ice Cream (began in 2016)

– Pimm’s (began in 2017)

Order of Play

Decided by Referee and published around 6.00pm daily.

Players (2018) inc qualifying

790 players

Prize Money (2018)

See here for full details.

Seedings

Men

The seeds are the top 32 players on the ATP Ranking list, BUT then rearranged on a surface-based system. Since 2002 a seeding committee has not been required for the Gentlemen’s Singles following an agreement made with the ATP. The seeding order is determined using an objective and transparent system to reflect more accurately an individual player’s grass court achievements. It is based on giving additional credit for grass court performance in the two year period immediately before the date used for seeding for The Championships. The formula is:

– Take the ATP Ranking points at 26 June 2017

– Add 100% of the points earned for all grass court tournaments in the immediate past 12 months period before 26 June 2017.

– Add 75% of the points earned for the best grass court tournament in the 12 months before that

Ladies

The seeding order follows the WTA ranking list, except where in the opinion of the committee, a change is necessary to produce a balanced draw.

Staff

Around 6,000 staff are taken on for Championships, including:

– Ball boys & girls: 250

– Ball distributors: 9

– Catering Staff: 2,200

– Court attendants: 192

– Data Collectors: 50

– Dressing room attendants: 30

– Facilities management: 54

– Groundstaff: 31

– Housekeeping staff: 400

– Media staff: 22

– Physio and massage therapists: 22

– Podiatrists: 2

– Referee’s Office: 16

– Stewards (Honorary): 200

– Stewards (Service & London Fire Brigade): 613

– Transport service drivers: 348

– Umpires, Chair and Line & management: 360

Strawberries & Cream

– Price for a portion of a minimum of 10 strawberries and cream at Wimbledon has remained at £2.50 per serving for seven years, since 2010.

– 33,000kg consumed during the 2017 tournament with over 10,000 liters of fresh cream.

– Usually Grade 1 English strawberries of the highest quality from Kent.

– From LEAF-registered farms (LEAF is a charity promoting Integrated Farm Management balancing organic with chemical practices).

– To ensure the utmost freshness, strawberries are picked at 4.00am, collected from the packing plant at 9.00am and are delivered to the Club by 11.00am for inspection and hulling. They are then enjoyed by guests on the same day