6 Facts About Wimbledon To Impress Your Friends With

Wimbledon is also home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world. It’s one of the four Grand Slam tennis championships alongside The Australian, French and USA Opens. The tennis is played on grass which gave the game its original name of lawn tennis. It takes place during the two weeks of late June and early July, ending with the Ladies and Men’s finals on the last Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Here are six Wimbledon facts that will impress your friends:

1. Every year 250 ball boys and girls are paid to work at Wimbledon. They’re on average 15 years old and earn about £150 for the two weeks.
2. During the championships over 54,000 tennis balls are used and in 1986 yellow tennis balls were introduced as white ones were too difficult for the umpires to see!
3. Being the traditional snack, each year approximately 28,000kg of strawberries are eaten with over 7,000 litres of cream.
4. The youngest ever player to take part at Wimbledon was Austrian Mita Klima who was just 13 years old when she played in 1907.
5. The centre court holds 15,000 fans. During World War II five bombs destroyed 1200 seats and it took nine years for the restoration to be completed.
6. In 1995 Tim Henman became the first person to be disqualified from Wimbledon after he lost his temper and smashed a ball into the face of a girl in the crowd.

In 2009 the center court was fitted with a retractable roof so that play could continue during inclement weather. There are five main events: Men’s’ Singles, Ladies Singles, Men’s Doubles, Ladies’ Doubles and Mixed Doubles, as well as Junior events and invitation matches. Wimbledon is scheduled for 14 days, always beginning on a Monday and ending in a Sunday.

There’s also a white clothing rule with specific guidelines for players stating no solid mass of coloring and little or no dark colors. No fluorescent colors with a preference for pastel colors. All accessories are to be predominantly white. Dark green and purple are the colors for the uniforms of the staff.

Tickets are sold to the general public through a ballot system by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at the beginning of the year. Successful applicants are selected at random by a computer. Seats and days selected aren’t transferable. Fans without tickets can queue for show courts and will normally have to queue overnight. Toilet and water facilities are provided and wristbands are handed out that are color coded for the specific court. In 2010 the one-millionth Wimbledon queue card was handed out!

Located in the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. It provides a multi-dimensional tour of the traditions that have made Wimbledon the most coveted title in Tennis History. There are touch screens and audio guides for people of all ages and cultures to experience tennis throughout time. There’s also a tour of the grounds and allowable access to restricted areas behind the scenes.

Wimbledon village is packed with independently owned shops and beautiful buildings. With traditional pubs and the Windmill Tea Rooms there’s plenty to see and do. The New Wimbledon Theater has a variety of exciting programmes including touring theater productions and musicals. Wimbledon station is served by the District line as well as overland trains and there are lots of bus routes in the area as well as the Tube.