Wimbledon Championships

Wimbledon Championships
International Tennis Federation
venue	London United Kingdom
First run	1877
category	Grand Slam
Tournament type	Free place tournament
Game surface	race
draw	Men: 128E / 128Q / 64D / 16DQ Women: 128E / 96Q / 64D / 16DQ Mixed: 48 pairings
Prize money	£ 34,000,000
Center Court	15,000 spectators
Website	Official website
As of May 2, 2018

The oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world is known as the Wimbledon Championships (also known as Wimbledon for short ) . From the beginning of July, the Lawn Tennis Championships will be held every year for two weeks in Wimbledon , a district of London . It is the third Grand Slam tournament of the year and the only one that is played on grass . The places in Wimbledon are colloquially referred to as "holy lawn". The tournament is one of the largest and most important sporting events of modern times. In 2019 the 133rd edition of the tennis tournament took place from 1 to 14 July.

The 2020 tournament was canceled on April 1st of that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The 134th edition is scheduled to take place from June 28th to July 11th, 2021.

story

The Center Court, already provided with the lockable roof

Court No.1, Wimbledon 2004

Court No.10, Wimbledon 2004

The trophies for the women’s singles (above) and the men’s singles (below)

The first Lawn Tennis Championships began on July 9, 1877 on a site on Worple Road in Wimbledon and were held by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club . The reason for this was the bill over 10 pounds for a lawn roller that had to be replaced. So the idea was born to hold a tournament and to charge the audience for entry.

Initially only allowed for men, competitions for women singles and men doubles were introduced in 1884. Women's doubles and mixed were included in the tournament program in 1913. In 1922 a new tennis complex was inaugurated on Church Road. The stadium, designed for 15,000 spectators, has developed into the "Mecca of tennis". The championships were first televised in 1937. For the first time since the Second World War , a tennis tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

tradition

To this day, Wimbledon has retained a special, old-fashioned elegant character that sets the tournament apart from all others. This is the only place where the old rule that 90 percent of the playing attire must be white still applies. The audience traditionally eats strawberries with cream and endures the rain, which often occurs and which compels breaks, with equanimity. But tradition is also that the first Sunday of the tournament is free of play, i.e. a day of rest. The opening game takes place on Center Court and is reserved for the defending champion in men's singles.

After having George V from 1907 a member of the first British royal family had been at Wimbledon as a guest, a royal was there in 1922 Loge (engl. Royal box ) furnished with 74 seats, the members of the royal family, politicians, athletes and other invited celebrities are reserved. As President of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club , Edward, 2nd Duke of Kent , usually presents trophies to the winners of Wimbledon. Queen Elizabeth II has also already carried out the award ceremony in Wimbledon. B. in the years 1957 or 1962. From 1969 to 2001 this task was taken over by the wife of the Duke of Kent, Katharine, Duchess of Kent , who then retired from public life. Until a rule change in 2003, the players at the award ceremony were expected to politely express their respect in front of the members of the royal family with a curtsey (women) or a bow (men).

present

Today tournaments are held for singles and doubles for women and men. In addition, a "mixed", a mixed doubles, as well as junior tournaments take place. The most important matches are played on the “Center Court” and the “Court No. 1 ”(last before the new building, notorious as the“ hangman's backyard ”). The "Court No. 2 ”is also called“ The Graveyard ”(in German“ Friedhof der Stars ”) because of the numerous favorite falls. In the first rounds there are also many smaller pitches.

The field in singles consists of 128 men and women each, in doubles there are 64 pairings. In contrast to the other Grand Slam tournaments, the mixed doubles are still played with 48 pairings (32 pairs in the other slams). The qualification in the individual plays out from 128 men and women 16 places in the main field. The women's field was increased from 96 to 128 places in 2019. This fell victim to the double qualification, which was the only tournament in Wimbledon until 2018 that had a tradition. The men's singles and doubles are played in the best of 5 format from the last round of qualification , the women and the mixed doubles are played for two sets of wins.

Record winner

The record winner on Church Road is the native Czech, later American and today's dual citizen Martina Navrátilová with nine individual victories between 1978 and 1990. Between 2003 and 2017, Swiss Roger Federer was eight times successful in the men's category .

Martina Navrátilová held the longest series in a row for women with six wins (1982 to 1987) and for men the Briton William Renshaw with six titles (1881 to 1886). The Brit Laurence Doherty won five times in a row (1902 to 1906), as did the French Suzanne Lenglen (1919 to 1923), the Swede Björn Borg (1976 to 1980) and Roger Federer (2003 to 2007). The native New Zealander Anthony Wilding (1910 to 1913) and the American Pete Sampras (1997 to 2000) each won four times in a row.

After the Englishman Fred Perry , who emerged as the winner of the men's competition in 1934, 1935 and 1936, it took 77 years until the Scottish Andy Murray, another British player, won the men's singles at Wimbledon in 2013.

Winners trophies

The winners of the various competitions receive trophies. The best known and most traditional are the two trophies for the men's and women's singles. The challenge cup , which is 44 centimeters high, is presented to the winner of the men's singles . The winner of the women's singles has been receiving the Rosewater Dish , a silver presentation plate for rose water with a diameter of 48 centimeters , since 1886 . This was commissioned in 1864 from a silversmith in Birmingham for 50 guineas (converted, taking into account the British RPI (2014) around 4610 pounds or 6325 euros).

Winner from the German-speaking area

Ten Germans, three Swiss and two Austrians have won titles at Wimbledon so far:

winner	competition	Number of victories	Years
Boris Becker	Men's singles	3	1985, 1986, 1989
Michael Stich	Men's singles, men 's doubles	1 1	1991 1992 (with John McEnroe )
Cilly Aussem	Ladies singles	1	1931
Steffi Graf	Ladies singles Ladies doubles	7 1	1988, 1989, 1991–1993, 1995, 1996, 1988 (with Gabriela Sabatini )
Angelique Kerber	Ladies singles	1	2018
Philipp Petzschner	Men's doubles	1	2010 (with Jürgen Melzer )
Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Ladies doubles	1	1987 (with Helena Suková )
Gottfried von Cramm Hilde Krahwinkel	Mixed	1	1933
Anna-Lena Grönefeld	Mixed	1	2009 (with Mark Knowles )
Roger Federer	Men's singles	8th	2003–2007, 2009, 2012, 2017
Martina Hingis	Ladies singles Ladies doubles Mixed	1 3 2	1997 1996 (with Helena Suková ) 1998 (with Jana Novotná ) 2015 (with Sania Mirza ) 2015 (with Leander Paes ) 2017 (with Jamie Murray )
Heinz Günthardt	Men's doubles	1	1985 (with Balázs Taróczy )
Jürgen Melzer	Mixed men's doubles	1 1	2010 (with Philipp Petzschner ) 2011 (with Iveta Benešová )
Alexander Peya	Mixed	1	2018 (with Nicole Melichar )

In 1931 and 1991 there was a German final. Cilly Aussem won the women's singles against Hilde Krahwinkel-Sperling in 1931, and Michael Stich won the men's competition in 1991 against Boris Becker.

See also

• List of Wimbledon winners (men's singles)
• List of Wimbledon winners (women singles)
• List of Wimbledon winners (men's doubles)
• List of Wimbledon winners (women's doubles)
• List of Wimbledon Winners (Mixed)
• List of Wimbledon winners (junior singles)
• List of Wimbledon winners (junior singles)
• List of Wimbledon winners (junior doubles)
• List of Wimbledon winners (junior doubles)
• Wimbledon records

Web links

Commons : Wimbledon Championships  - collection of images

• Official website
• Player portraits and results

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pictures: The ten biggest sporting events. In: suedkurier.de. Südkurier , February 4, 2011, accessed on August 2, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Timo Prüfig: You shouldn't miss these sports highlights! In: spiegel.de. Spiegel Online , January 1, 2014, accessed August 2, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Wimbledon 2020 canceled due to the corona pandemic. In: tennismagazin.de . April 1, 2020, accessed April 1, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Jochen Spengler: lawn, strawberries, white clothes. In: deutschlandfunk.de. June 19, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2017 . 
5. ↑ The greatest. In: spiegel.de. July 8, 1968, Retrieved June 25, 1917 . 
6. ↑ Wimbledon canceled due to coronavirus - where does that leave tennis in 2020? In: BBC. April 1, 2020, accessed on April 2, 2020 . 
7. ↑ Wimbledon makes a few “enhancements for '19. In: tennis.life. November 9, 2018, accessed June 28, 2019 . 
8. ^ Wimbledon Trophy. In: tennis.sporting99.com. Retrieved June 25, 2017 (English). 
9. ^ Wimbledon Championships Trophies. In: wimbledon.open-tennis.com. Retrieved June 25, 2017 (English). 
10. ↑ "I also pay for it". In: spox.com. May 26, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2017 . 
11. ^ The Wimbledon Trophy. In: wimbledondebentureholders.com. June 9, 2014, accessed June 25, 2017 . 

Coordinates: 51 ° 26 ′ 2 "  N , 0 ° 12 ′ 51"  W.