Lawn Tennis Anyone?
It’s coming! It will be here before you know it! Are you ready?
The oldest, and probably the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, Wimbledon, is scheduled to begin June 23 and will be played through July 6. This tournament showcases the top tennis players in the world and is the third of four tournaments that make up the annual Grand Slam of tennis. The four are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
The first Wimbledon event was played in 1877, and in the years since, numerous tennis legends have played on Wimbledon’s grass surface. Memorable players include Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and John McEnroe (you’ve probably seen him in recent commercials!). The ladies have also been well represented by Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Billy Jean-King and Martina Navratilova, just to name a few.
Wimbledon has always been a popular venue for tennis fans. Early records don’t exist, but in 1932, 219,000 spectators were in the stands to see the championship match. In 2001, over 490,000 people watched matches at Wimbledon over the course of 14 days.
Competitions take place in gentlemen’s singles, ladies singles, gentlemen’s doubles, ladie’s doubles and mixed doubles. There are also youth tournaments with competitions in boy’s singles, girl’s singles, boy’s doubles and girl’s doubles. The entire competition is run by The All England Lawn Tennis Club and The Lawn Tennis Association.
I haven’t played tennis in years myself, but I do enjoy watching a good tennis match. It would be a dream to get Wimbledon tournament tickets and be able to go to Wimbledon in person, especially the championship game. Did you know that at the south end of Centre Court is The Royal Box where members of the Royal Family as well as other dignitaries can sit to watch matches?
