The Championships at Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely considered to be the most prestigious. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which is responsible for staging this world leading tennis tournament, is a private club founded in 1868 as The All England Croquet Club in Wimbledon.

Wimbledon takes place over two weeks during the later part June and early July. It is scheduled for 13 days, commencing on a Monday and ending on a Sunday with the middle Sunday a designated rest day. The five main events (Gentlemen's & Ladies' Singles, Gentlemen's & Ladies' Doubles and Mixed Doubles) span both weeks, but the youth (Boys' & Girls' Singles, Boys’ & Girls' Doubles) and invitational events (Gentlemen's & Ladies’ Invitation Doubles, Senior Gentlemen's Invitation Doubles, Gentlemen's Wheelchair Doubles) are held mainly during the second week.

The Committee of Management and the Referees evaluate all applications for entry, and determine which players may be admitted to the tournament directly. The committee may admit a player without a high enough ranking as a wild card. Usually, wild cards are players who have performed well during previous tournaments, or whose participation would stimulate public interest in Wimbledon. The singles qualifying competitions are three-round events; the same-sex doubles competitions lasts for only one round, and there is no qualifying tournament for Mixed Doubles.

Players are admitted to the junior tournaments upon the recommendation of their national tennis associations, on their International Tennis Federation world rankings, and in the case of the singles events, on the basis of a qualifying competition. The Committee seeds the top players and pairs on the basis of their rankings. However, the Committee does also change the seeding due to a player's previous grass court performance. A majority of the entrants are unseeded.

Matches in the Gentlemen's Singles & Doubles competitions are best-of-five sets. Matches in all other events are best-of-three sets. A tie-break game is played if the score reaches 6-6 in any set except the fifth (in a five-set match) or the third (in a three-set match), in which case a two-game lead must be reached. All events are single-elimination tournaments, except for the Gentlemen's & the Ladies' Invitation Doubles, both of which are round-robin tournaments.

The Gentlemen's Singles champion receives a silver gilt cup. The trophy has been awarded since 1887, has a pineapple on top, and bears the inscription: "The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Champion of the World." The Ladies' Singles champion receives a sterling silver salver commonly known as the "Venus Rosewater Dish" with figures from mythology. The winners of the Gentlemen's, Ladies' & Mixed Doubles events receive silver cups. The runner-up in each event receives an inscribed silver plate. Prize money was first awarded in 1968.

Strict dress code for competitors is one of the Wimbledon’s traditions. Dark green & purple are the traditional colours. All tennis players participating in the tournament are required to wear all white or at least almost all white clothing, a long time tradition at Wimbledon. Wearing white clothing with some colour accents is also acceptable. Green clothing was worn by the chair umpire, linesmen, ball boys and ball girls until the 2005 Championships; however, beginning with the 2006 Championships, officials, ball boys and ball girls were outfitted in new navy blue and cream coloured uniforms. Also the Royal patronage and eating of strawberries & cream belong to the tradition of Wimbledon. In fact twenty-four tons of Kent strawberries are ordered every year for the Championships.

Aside from the Championships at Wimbledon, the English summer is unimaginable without strawberries, so even if you are not attending Wimbledon this year, why not visit The Bull Hotel and enjoy a portion of strawberries with cream at £3.95 or treat yourself to a glass of Sparkling Rose Aurora Proscecco Pinot Nero at £4.95 per glass.

Written by Adrienn Gal, Revenue co-ordinator at The Bull