Wimbledon is one of the most celebrated awaited tennis tournament in the world. Let us now look at 10 interesting facts about Wimbledon tennis that you probably didn’t know.
Wimbledon is one of the Four Grand Slams which are organized in a calendar year. It is usually held around end of June and July second week. All England Club in London hosts this tournament. Here are 10 most interesting facts about Wimbledon.
1. The first Wimbledon Championship was held in 1877, making it the oldest tennis championship of tennis. It was won by Herbert Fortescue Lawford in men’s singles. Ladies singles and men’s doubles were added to the tournament seven years later in 1884.
2. It is the only tournament where dress code is mentioned for the players. The players are strictly instructed to be in white and if not so they can be asked to change. In an instance in 2013, world tennis star Roger Federer was asked by Referee to change his shoes as there sole was orange in colour.
3. More than 50,000 balls are used in the tournament. They are carefully kept in refrigeration so as to avoid any unnecessary wear and tear. Interestingly earlier white balls were used but after 1967 yellow balls were accepted as they were visible to TV Cameras.
4. Around 250 boys and girls are given training to perform the job of ball boys also known as BBGs.
5. Longest match ever played in the Wimbledon history was for 11 hours and 5 minutes and was played over the span of three days. This was back in 2010 when John Isner of United States defeated French Nicholas Mahut.
6. Fastest recorded serve in men’s was made by Taylor Dent at 238 kph and Venus Williams in ladies at 205 kph.
7. Tennis players are known for loud grunts during smashing the ball. The loudest grunt ever recorded is of Maria Sharapova which reached near 105 decibels, nearly sound made by a table saw.
8. The Men’s Singles Champion is presented with the original Golden Trophy but neither takes home. They are given a replica of that Trophy to take with them. The original Wimbledon Trophy is kept at All England Club’s Museum.
9. Record for most titles in Men’s categories is held jointly by Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and William Ranshaw winning the title seven times each. Whereas in ladies record holder is Czech Republic’s Martina Navratilova, winning the cup nine times during her career.
10. It is the only Grand slam to be played on Grass. The grass is cut at exactly 8mm!
10 Interesting Facts About Wimbledon
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