The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known as Wimbledon is the oldest and the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.
It has been held annually at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877.
The tournament, held in late June and early July, is one of the four annual ‘Grand Slam’ tennis events along with the Australian, French and U.S. Open.
Out of the four, Wimbledon is the only one that is played on natural grass.
Expansion
The Women’s championship was introduced at Wimbledon in 1884 while Mixed doubles and Women’s doubles were inaugurated in 1913.
The tournament, originally played only by amateurs, was opened to professional players in 1968.
Most Titles
Swiss great Roger Federer has won the most number of men’s singles titles with 8 while in ladies, American legend *Martina Navratilova won it 9 times.
Prize Money
A total of £34m (Rs. 290 crores) was awarded to the players in the 2018 edition.
Both men and women singles champion each received £2.25m (about Rs. 20 crores).
Longest match
In 2010, America’s John Isner and France’s Nicolas Mahut played the longest match in Wimbledon’s history.
It lasted 3 days with a running time of 11 hours 5 minutes.
Isner finally won the 5 set match with the score in the final set reading 70-68.
Interesting Facts
There is a rest day in the middle of the tournament to let the ground staff water the grass and prepare it for the 2nd week of matches.
More than 50,000 tennis balls are used in the tournament each year.
Over 28,000 kg of strawberries and 10,000 litres of cream are consumed during the annual event.
To know a brief history of Lawn Tennis, click on the link below: