Incredibly Wimbledon, now a private tennis club, started out as a croquet club. Even today, it is officially known as The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Our tour guide said it was easier to win the men's or women's singles title than to be accepted as a member of the club. Membership is limited to 500, and you need to show commitment to the advancement of tennis to be voted into the club. However, if you do win the singles title, you automatically become an honorary member. So good luck!
The complex is intended to remind you of an English garden. To that end, there are several benches and tables with many flowers. The Wimbledon colors - green and purple - are speculated to originate from the fact that lavenders were grown in the area of Wimbledon in the early 1900s. However, our tour guide pointed out that those were also the colors of the women's suffragette movement at the time so it may have been a not-so-subtle political statement.
Henman's Hill outside Court 1. During the Championships, an enormous TV is erected by the Wimbledon sign that would nearly span the length of this picture. Therefore, people can sit on the grass, enjoy their ice cream and Pimm's, and watch the tennis. According to our tour guide, champagne and Pimm's (a lemonade drink with fruit inside) are staple alcoholic drinks for the Championships. I never associated tennis with alcohol, but there you go. But then again, the French Suzanne Lenglen used to sip brandy between sets in the early 20th century.Interestingly, ground admissions passes cost 20 pounds if you wait in the queue. Granted, people start lining up hours beforehand, but from our tour guide's description, Wimbledon truly tries to make its seats affordable. At 3 pm, they resell the tickets for seats where people have left for the day at a reduced rate. Of course, debentures (effectively season passes for five years) for Centre Court will rid you of 27,000 pounds, but there are plenty of other ways to get into Wimbledon.
Centre Court, looking towards the Royal Box. These seats are padded, unlike those in the other show courts, so they're covered when they're not in use. You can also see that the court is covered by a tarp. There are very precise specifications for the height and health of the grass. Apparently it gets cut only one millimeter at a time to prevent damage to the remaining grass.To the left of the Royal Box, you might be able to see the row of seats for the friends and family of the players. Upon winning the finals, many players jump up there to celebrate with their family. Apparently, in 2008, Nadal jumped up there and ran along the ledge into the Royal Box to hug the members of the Spanish royal family in attendance. Our tour guide joked that no British player would do such a thing. The most Murray can hope for is a handshake. Supposedly the Queen is not a big fan of tennis. The last time she attended a Wimbledon finals was the last time a British woman, Virginia Wade, won the singles title - in 1977.
Court 1. In total, the grounds hold Centre Court and Courts 1 - 19. A few of the 19 are currently being rebuilt so I'm not sure how many will be in use for this year's Championships. Centre Court has always remained in the same location, but the other courts often move. Court 2 was rumored to be cursed since many greats would fall in the first round to no-name players, but it is being rebuilt so many players hope that the curse will be broken.The yellow sign is part of a fence. Apparently there are many urban foxes in London (although I haven't seen any) who find the courts particularly attractive at night. However, they tend to soil (think toilets) the grass, which is otherwise so carefully maintained. Therefore, an electric fence is erected around Court 1 (and some other courts?) to keep the foxes away. Our tour guide actually said that it's more likely to run into a fox in London than in anywhere else in Britain. I'm not sure why that would be the case.
A statue of Fred Perry, the last male British player to win a Wimbledon title - in 1936. Obviously, the British have a ways to go when it comes to Wimbledon, but to that end, the club sponsors an extensive junior training program. Our tour guide told us that a significant portion of the profit from Wimbledon - something to the tune of millions of pounds after considering TV rights, tickets, official sponsorships, etc. - is donated to charities, one of which sponsors youth tennis. In a few counties in Britain, every student is required to try tennis in their gym class to see who is fit to advance and to be coached by the best instructors in the country. Murray was a product of this system so the British hope to revitalize their caliber of tennis this way.
A list of the official sponsors for the upcoming Championships. Our tour guide was proud of the fact that courts don't have large signs advertising HSBC or Evian. Instead, Wimbledon only has official sponsors, or suppliers. Some suppliers are synonymous with Wimbledon such as Rolex or Slazenger. Every clock in the facilities had golden lettering and framing and was made by Rolex. Slazenger has provided the balls for Wimbledon since its inception in 1877.Lawn tennis actually has an interesting history. It has several possible predecessors including badminton and royal (or real) tennis. According to our tour guide, royal tennis is similar to handball and is still played by 50,000 people worldwide. However, the first lawn tennis Championships were held in 1877 as a local competition between 20 Brits. In 1922, the Championships were moved a few miles away to the current location of Wimbledon. The private club also owns the golf course across the street, which it must keep as a golf course for another 10 years, but it may convert the land to tennis courts after that point.
The bracket from last year. Each player's name and scores are recorded on the yellow metal slabs. I thought this part was awesome since you could still see Serena Williams and Roger Federer up there. The bracket is located close to the entrance to the complex so it's visible to all.
The list of past winners. It's easy to see that the same people have won for several stretches of time. Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova are tied with 20 Wimbledon titles, including singles, female doubles, and mixed doubles. This list is located inside the club.
Me sitting in the press room where the tennis players would sit. Apparently there's an extensive interview process after each match. If players don't sit in for their interviews, they can be heavily fined, to the tune of 10,000 pounds. First, the BBC gets a one-on-one interview followed by an interview by the player's national media. Next, each player comes into this room to be interviewed by anyone from the press. Our tour guide said that for players like Federer, this process can take up to five hours (obviously they get 30 minutes to freshen up after their match, but still, very tiring)If I remember correctly. there are 800 journalists that cover Wimbledon (this figure doesn't include photographers or TV crews). Each stadium has assigned seating for the journalists, dugouts for the photographers on the sides of the court, and commentary boxes for commentaries in different languages. Interestingly, the journalists are ranked so that only 200 have access to the entire facilities from courts to press room to other private areas. The lower-grade journalists may only have access to the courts and press room.
Rafael Nadal's outfit from 2008. I didn't spend too much time in the museum since my friends and I were getting hungry, but it's informative. It has an interesting section on the evolution of tennis fashion. Obviously Fred Perry and LaCoste clothing originated from tennis. Apparently, women used to wear corsets when they played tennis, which severely restricted their range of motion. Thankfully that trend changed to allow for better play.
Pete Sampras's shoes from one of the years that he won Wimbledon.I'd highly recommend Wimbledon. The atmosphere of greatness, of ambition, of triumph and defeat is infectious, especially once you learn the history. It's also interesting to see how passionately the British enjoy their tennis. Our tour guide said that it would be odd this year since the Championships would occur at the same time as the World Cup and the preparations for the London 2012 Olympics. She was adamant about the fact that no football would be shown in the complex, and she still expected a fair amount of media coverage of the Championships despite the "distractions".
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