Interesting Facts About Wimbledon ( video )

By Cecelia Owens

Summer in Britain is heralded each June by the two-week tennis competition known as The Championships, Wimbledon. Wimbledon, as it is commonly called, is hosted by the All England Club in the district of Wimbledon, a London suburb. Wimbledon is one of four tournaments that make up the Grand Slam of Tennis. The early summer Tournament at Wimbledon stands as the oldest and most respected tennis tournament in the world.

Wimbledon began humbly in 1877. A mere 200 spectators doled out a shilling each to watch Spencer Gore defeat William Marshall in the final to become the first champion at Wimbledon. Gore failed to defend his championship the following year when Frank Haddow, inventor of the lob shot, beat him in the finals. Following his defeat, Gore promptly retired from tournament tennis. Sixty-four different men have won the Gentlemen's title since.

More than a century later, 32,036 attendees assembled on the final day at Wimbledon to watch Spaniard Rafael Nadal successfully defend his title against Tomas Berdych. Total attendance for the two weeks of the 2010 tournament was approximately a half million while an additional five million watched worldwide on television. Wimbledon was first televised in 1937 by the British Broadcasting Company which still has the Wimbledon broadcast rights. The British Government mandates that the Finals are shown live on television.

Wimbledon consists of singles and doubles competitions. While most people are familiar with Wimbledon's high-profile Gentlemen's and Ladies' events, there are also categories for juniors, seniors and wheelchair participants. In total, there are fourteen different championship events.

The roll call of Wimbledon champions is dotted with tennis legends. The record for most Gentlemen's Singles titles is seven shared by William Renshaw and Pete Sampras. Sampras won his titles in the modern Open Era when professionals were allowed to compete at Wimbledon. Prior to 1968, participation was limited to amateurs. Martina Navritalova holds the record for Ladies' Singles titles at nine. She achieved six of these in consecutive years. Other notable champions include seven-time winner Steffi Graf and six-time winners Roger Federer and Billie Jean King. Bjorn Borg and Venus Williams have triumphed at Wimbledon five times each.

Traditions abound at Wimbledon. The most significant of these traditions is the grass-surfaced courts on which the Championships are contested. Wimbledon is the last of the great tennis tournaments played on grass - a hard, unpredictable surface that favors big hitters. The traditional colors of Wimbledon are green and purple. Until 2006, all officials were attired in green. Players are required to wear white although some color accents are gradually sneaking onto the court. A delicious edible tradition at Wimbledon is devouring strawberries and cream. Thousands of pounds of strawberries and gallons of ice cream are consumed at Wimbledon each summer. Wimbledon even has a literary tradition. On their way to Centre Court, players must pass under two lines from Rudyard Kipling's poem, "If". And of course, it wouldn't be England without the rain. Only six championships have gone without rain interruptions since 1922.

All sports have their premier events. Baseball plays the World Series. Hockey teams skate for the Stanley Cup. A victory at the Masters is regarded as golf's highest achievement. But none of these events can match the long history, colorful traditions and legendary champions of tennis at Wimbledon.

Cecelia Owens loves travel and she does freelance writing for the top South African travel comparison website, where she also wrote the blog post "Visiting Wimbledon - A Tennis Pilgrimage" which you can read here.

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