Friday Facts
Wimbledon Trivia
Wimbledon is one of the most esteemed tournaments in the arena of international tennis. It is held every year,
Interesting Facts Of Wimbledon Tennis Tournament:
- Wimbledon began in the year 1877, at the All England Club, in the London suburb of Wimbledon
- Wimbledon starts on the Monday falling between 20 and 26 June, which is six weeks before the first Monday in August
- Wimbledon started as only Gentlemen's Single Championship, in which only 22 players participated
- There were only 200 spectators in the first Wimbledon tournament and the tickets were sold for one shilling each, in the final match
- Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam that is played on grass courts
- Wimbledon has been interrupted twice till date, once in 1915-18 and then in 1940-45, due to World War I and World War II respectively
- Ladies Single Championship and Gentlemen's Double were introduced in Wimbledon in 1884
- The winner of first Wimbledon Gentlemen's Single was Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian rackets player
- The first winner of Ladies Single Championship was Maud Watson, who defeated her opponent L. Watson, in straight sets of 6-8, 6-3, 6-3
- The winners of first Wimbledon Gentlemen's Double were J.E. Renshaw and W.C. Renshaw
- Except for the Gentlemen's Single and Gentlemen's Double, all the other Wimbledon events are played on the rule of best of three sets. These two events are played as per best of five sets
- The Ladies' Double and Mixed Double Tournament was introduced in Wimbledon in 1913
- The winners of first Wimbledon Ladies' Double were Winifred McNair and Dora Boothby
- The winners of first Wimbledon Mixed Double were Hope Crisp and Agnes Tuckey
- Martina Navratilova has won Wimbledon Women Singles maximum numbers of time i.e. 9 times. She also shares a record of winning 20 Wimbledon titles, an all-time record, with Billie Jean King
- Martina Hingis became the youngest player to win a Wimbledon title, at the age of 15 years, 282 days, by winning doubles championship in 1996
- Willie Renshaw and Pete Sampras hold the record of winning the Wimbledon Men Singles a maximum of 7 times
- Willie Renshaw also holds the record of winning Wimbledon Men Single's title six consecutive times, from 1881-86
- Wimbledon logo consists of green and purple color circular symbols, with two rackets crossed over them
- The Ladies' Single Trophy of Wimbledon is called 'Rosewater Dish' or 'Venus Rosewater Dish'
Feeding the Thousands at Wimbledon Fortnight
Close to half a million people attend the All England Lawn Tennis Club Championships, better known as Wimbledon fortnight, or just Wimbledon. Maybe they should simply call it The Hunger because the amount of food they consume in two weeks makes feeding the 5,000 seem like child's play.![]()
Napoleon may have said An army marches on its stomach (leave it to a Frenchman), but at Wimbledon it's an audience that watches on its stomach. It takes 1,700 catering staff to feed them and watching tennis must be hungry work because here, according to the All England Lawn Tennis Club, is what they they chomped, slurped and gulped through in 2009:
- 300,000 cups of tea and coffee
- 250,000 bottles of water
- 190,000 sandwiches
- 150,000 bath buns, scones, pasties and doughnuts
- 150,000 glasses of Pimm’s
- 135,000 ice creams
- 130,000 served lunches
- 100,000 pints of draft beer and lager
- 60,000 sausages
- 40,000 served, char-grilled meals
- 30,000 portions of fish and chips
- 30,000 liters (31,700 quarts) of milk
- 23,000 bananas
- 22,000 slices of pizza
- 20,000 portions of frozen yoghurt
- 17,000 bottles of champagne
- 12,000 kilos (26,455 pounds) of poached salmon and smoked salmon
And Don't Forget the Strawberries and Cream
How could we? Spectators consume 28,000 kilos (61,730 pounds) of English strawberries - 2,000 kilos (4,409 pounds) per day, and 7,000 liters (7,397 quarts) of fresh cream. And these aren't just any old strawberries. They're Grade 1 English strawberries from registered farms in Kent. They're picked the day before being served, arrive at Wimbledon at 5:30 a.m. and are individually inspected before being hulled. With that kind of pedigree it makes the 2009 price of £2.25 for a minimum of 10 strawberries with cream seem like a right bargain.