Facts you didn’t know about Wimbledon
A trove of surprising facts from the oldest and the richest Tennis Championship.
By Tejasvi Lohia
(Reading time ~ 4 mins)
Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. It began way back in 1877, at the All England Club, in the London suburb of Wimbledon. Ladies Singles Championship and Gentlemen’s Doubles were introduced in Wimbledon in 1884.
Players and spectators are treated with strawberries and cream as a typical stand food at the tournament. 28,000 kg of strawberries are eaten along with 7,000 liters of cream.
During the Second World War, five bombs hit the center court and destroyed 1200 seats. It took nine years to get the court running again.
Wimbledon employs a special pigeon-chasing hawk called Rufus.
Wimbledon employs a special pigeon-chasing hawk called Rufus. Rufus has been patrolling for the past nine years keeping the unwanted pests away from the venue. He even has his own twitter account.
This year pigeons are in double trouble as Rufus has a new partner, Pollux. The pair will patrol from 5 am to 9 am.
It has a strict dress-code. Players are required to dress entirely white. The rule states, “No solid mass of coloring; little or no dark or bold colors; no fluorescent colors; preference towards pastel colors…and all other items of clothing including hats, socks and shoes to be almost entirely white.” Apparently, the white stains of sweat were considered inappropriate. Hence, white dress-code was adopted to avoid embarrassment.
The fastest serve recorded at Wimbledon was 163.7 mph and was delivered by Samuel Groth in 2012.
Wimbledon never has any sponsor advertisements around its court.
In 2010 John Isner defeated Nicholas Mahut in a match which lasted over 11 hours and 5 minutes, making it the longest match at Wimbledon, scoring 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7–9), 7–6(7–3), 70–68 (in the course of 3 days).
The tournament has a ‘day of rest’. The middle Sunday of the Wimbledon fortnight is always a day off.
The Ladies’ Single Trophy of Wimbledon is called ‘Rosewater Dish’ or ‘Venus Rosewater Dish’as it includes the image of goddess Venus.
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