What Do You Need to Know About the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament? What is Wimbledon and Why is it Called by This Name?

The Wimbledon Tennis Tournament is known as one of the oldest and most prestigious tournaments in the history of sports. This annual tournament is known for its traditions and strict rules.

Wimbledon is considered the premier Grand Slam tournament. Throughout its history, tennis legends such as Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Pete Sampras have competed on these courts. The iconic Center Court is considered one of the most famous tennis courts in the world, and the tournament has been held since 1877 and has been televised since 1937.

Women started to take part in Wimbledon since 1884, in this tournament where only male players could participate in the previous years. The doubles category was included in the tournament in 1913.

There is a rule at Wimbledon that athletes must wear white. This rule has been in place since 1963 and was updated to ‘almost entirely white’ in 1995.

The 54,250 tennis balls used at Wimbledon each year are stored at a constant temperature of 20 degrees. While the balls were white until 1986, the color yellow started to be used after this date. The income generated by selling the used balls is transferred to tennis programs at schools.

Wimbledon champions cannot take home the trophies they win. The trophies are displayed in the All England Club’s museum and athletes are given a replica of the trophy.

Traditional foods and beverages consumed at Wimbledon include 350 thousand cups of tea and approximately 28 thousand kilos of strawberries each year. Strawberries are picked every morning at 4 o’clock and consumed by adding 7 thousand liters of cream.

One of the longest matches in Wimbledon history took place between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut in 2010, and this match, which lasted 11 hours, went down in tennis history. In 2018, the semi-final match between Kevin Anderson and John Isner was one of the longest matches of the tournament, lasting 6 hours and 36 minutes.

Another interesting element of the tournament is the hawk named Rufus. Rufus is responsible for flying over the courts and keeping the pigeons away during the tournament. England’s rainy summers sometimes affect Wimbledon matches. Since 1922, there have been only 7 tournaments held without interruption due to rain.

Every year, 250 children, selected from approximately 1000 applicants, take on the task of collecting balls in the tournament. These children go through an intense selection process and training program.