Wimbledon tennis tournament of the oldest sport

Wimbledon tennis tournament

Tennis is one of the oldest sports. The first tournaments took place at the end of the 19th century and attracted a large number of players and spectators who wanted to enjoy spectacular confrontations. At the time, only a few dozen players competed in tournaments, but 20 years later tennis was included in the Olympic Games. Numerous tournaments are now organised each year at different levels. Each of them attracts the attention of true tennis fans. But only the best tournaments are capable of attracting the maximum number of spectators.

Grand Slam tournaments

The most prestigious tournaments are the Grand Slam tournaments. These are four different tournaments which are held each year in the same countries:

  1. Roland Garros in France.
  2. Australian Open in Australia.
  3. The US Open in the USA.
  4. Wimbledon in the UK.

Every professional tennis player dreams of winning a Grand Slam tournament. After all, the status of the competition is second only to the Olympic Games. Winning all four tournaments in a single year is considered the most prestigious. Such tennis players are very few. Most often, athletes win tournaments gradually over the course of several years. In terms of prestige, each of the four championships is on the same level. However, Wimbledon is interesting because it is the oldest of them all.

Wimbledon tennis tournament third largest tennis tournament

Wimbledon

Wimbledon is the third Grand Slam Tournament in a row. It doesn’t start on a fixed date. The Open starts six weeks before the first Monday in August. So in different years it may start from late June to early July. Recently, however, the rules have changed slightly.

The fact is that Wimbledon is the most prestigious tournament, but it started just two weeks after Roland Garros ended. Because of this, many tennis players simply did not have time to rest and prepare for their performances. The tournament organisers took this problem into account and decided to postpone the start of Wimbledon. Therefore, since 2015, the tournament has been held five weeks before the first Monday in August.

As already mentioned, the English Open is the oldest of all the Grand Slam tournaments. The competition was first held back in 1877. Then 22 athletes competed in the tournament. An important condition for participation was the payment of dues. With this money, the tournament organisers bought a lawnmower, which can still be seen in the Wimbledon Museum. It’s one of the reasons why grass is so important in England:

  1. 14 days before the tournament, trained hawks are released on the courts, whose job it is to keep the pigeons off the fields.
  2. the organisers clearly ensure that the grass is 8m high.

Currently, the tennis complex includes 19 grass courts. The main ones are: Centre Court, Court 1, Court 2. The first two are used exclusively for tournaments. As for Court No.2, it has an unofficial name “Cemetery of Champions”. The fact is that very often it is here that the favourites lose and lose their chances of coming out on top.

Interestingly, it is only at Wimbledon that the gender differences between athletes are most pronounced. For example, the winners of the men’s tournament received a gold-plated cup, which remained with them for a year. After that, it was passed on to the next winner. In addition, the best tennis player got a smaller replica of the cup and the prize money, which has now reached £1.7 million.

The winner of the women’s tournament gets a silver plate. Prior to 2007, however, the men’s victory was valued higher. However, under public pressure, justice has been served and the girls are now paid the same for winning.