This is an article ‘Is Wimbledon the Best Major Tournament Ever?’ by Marc Pulisci
Each year, from the end of June until the first week of July, most of the top tennis players from around the world come face to face at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in South West London, UK, for what most scribes arguably label “the best annual tennis tournament in the history of the sport”.
Wimbledon is undoubtedly the highest-prized grass tournament of all the grand slams every year. Players compete on a somewhat more slippery surface, which entails specific footwork training. As the Centre Court turns a century old this year, Wimbledon's 15,000-seater has hosted some of the best matches featuring the most iconic players in tennis history.
Every year, world royals and celebrities score tickets to the Royal Box to witness the major tournament's top matches. Court 1 is a backup battleground whenever the weather turns gray – an equally plush venue adjacent to the Centre Court.
Along with 16 other match courts that mainly serve as practice venues for players preparing for the match of their lives, Wimbledon has everything every tennis player, fan, or expert needs to feel the glory of the sport's history.
Do you want to know why many experts consider Wimbledon the best grand slam tournament? Here are three facts that will convince you:
Its history is one for the books
Wimbledon's first tournament went on record on the 9th of July 1877. Since the grand slam tournament began, matches were always held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. Back then, the club sat in the outer suburbs of England’s capital. During its inaugural event, only twenty-one players (who were all amateurs at that) competed in the first ever Wimbledon gentlemen's event.
Of course, that number is a far cry from recent tournaments, with 169 professionals (47 ladies and 122 gentlemen) in 2019 as the most attended by players. As for the prize, the inaugural tournament's champion Spencer Gore, who defeated his opponent William Marshall in three straight sets, went home with a 25-guinea trophy. Last year's total prize money was £35,016,000, with the singles champions Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan taking home £1,700,000 apiece.
Back to Wimbledon history, its roots took after how the sport started shifting into an indoor racket and ball sport called royal tennis. Soon, players played matches on lawns of green grass by the 19th century.
The All England Club developed four acres of meadowland outside of the capital, intending to push the popularity of croquet. However, the public clamor for tennis forced club members to install lawn tennis courts in the facility. After 11 years, the club renamed itself the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon, via a broadsheet announcement with an initial ticket price of one shilling for amateur matches.
Through the years, the club became instrumental in organizing modern tennis rules, including scoring, the number of sets within a match, and the allowance of one fault for each serve, all courtesy of Dr. Henry Jones, who also went by his pen name 'Cavendish.' Today, the same rules set for early Wimbledon remain accepted for most tournaments.
It has the best of the best
It takes over 500 tennis experts to organize and manage Wimbledon events every year. This personnel is carefully selected and inducted as members of the prestigious All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. Organizers meticulously iron out details from hosting to security for the highly anticipated two-week event. Since Wimbledon is one of three grand slam tournaments every year, the men and women behind each annual tournament host The Championships, which matches the best of what the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) have to offer.
Having been given the authority by global sports governing bodies to conduct its events and tournaments, Wimbledon is permitted to generate its own revenue and profit. In 2021, even at the height of the pandemic, the grand slam tournament earned a whopping $52.8 million. However, the prestigious tournament is not all about the money more than how it is a major indicator of ATP and WTA rankings.
The club's members don't get to pocket any profits anyway, as every tournament's total earnings go to the improvement of the facilities, payment of bills and overhead expenses, salaries, and donations to the Lawn Tennis Association in the pursuit to further push interest and development for UK tennis.
Prominent for being an organized institution, Wimbledon's social awareness in support of tennis players, fans, and the sport itself made it one of the highly respected tennis organizations worldwide since its inception 145 years ago.
Everyone loves Wimbledon
One powerful indicator of how tennis fans love the annual grand slam event is how they are willing to queue for hours just to see their favorite stars play. While organizers offer patrons tickets utilizing a pupil ballot even before the tournament opens, club organizers ensure they allot an estimated 1,000 top-tier tickets for selling daily.
Because of this, some fans even camp out within the vicinity of Southwest London to be the first in line to grab their golden Wimbledon tickets.
For many, it is always pleasant to experience such anticipation while waiting to purchase tickets with the rest of the world. The air is always electric, and the vibe is exciting. When you get the chance to get up close to your favorite tennis heroes, camping out for tickets doesn't seem to be too much of a hassle after all.
It doesn't take much for the organizers to sell out the daily tickets, and the Grounds has a 42,000-seat capacity. Returned or unused tickets can be resold for charity, which is another reason why everybody loves Wimbledon.
Before the pandemic immobilized us from attending such high-profile sporting events, the tournament raised £214,093 via the ticket-resale program to add to the total donation of £384,093 to the Wimbledon Foundation for the benefit of several charity institutions.
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