Archive for the ‘Wimbledon’ Category
Good day Wimbledon
I’m not sure about anyone else, but it feels as though Wimbledon has really crept up on me. One minute Federer is falling to his knees on the blood red clay of Rolland Garros, the next Andy Murray is starring shirtless on the front of The Radio Times and sales of strawberries and cream are starting to pick up.
At least that is how we celebrate the start of Wimbledon over here in England. In the summer, British sport comes to life: there’s the Ashes for cricket, the Grand Prix for racing (this year its last year at the historic Silverstone), and then there’s Wimbledon. And so when the summer comes, we celebrate in style.
Even those who don’t follow the other Grand Slams have barely been able to catch their breath after Rafael Nadal beat Federer in that epic Wimbledon final last year. And those of us that have been following the last twelve months of tennis are having to strap on an oxygen mask even after Day One at Wimbledon.
Wimbledon’s first day encapuslated some of the most important things about the tournament to come:
1) the absence of Nadal: it is tradition for the champion to open up on Centre Court at the start of the new Wimbledon tournament, but this year Federer had the honours as runner-up. It was a shame; the Majorcan is unable to play due to tendonitis and fluid on his kneecaps (you wouldn’t believe how much that makes me shudder), and after the epic final last year and his early exit from the French Open, he will be sorely missed.
2) a shock more »
Wimbledon History, Trivia & Stats
The oldest and most prestigious of the world’s tennis tournaments was played for the first time in 1877, at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London where it has remained throughout it esteemed history.
The All England was originally formed as a croquet club, only adding the ‘tennis’ in the year that the first tennis championships were held. While croquet is obviously no longer a focus at the club, for sentimental reasons it has remained part of the title…although there was a short lived attempt to have it removed in the early 1880′s.
It didn’t take long for the tournament to garner attention from overseas competitors, with the first foreigner to claim a title being American May Sutton who won the women’s singles in 1905. Norman Brookes of Australia soon after won the men’s title in 1907 and its fate was assured as it went on to become one of the world’s premiere sporting events.
As with the other majors, Wimbledon opened its doors to professional players in 1968 when the Open era began and has remained as the only major to be played on the traditional grass surface.
This has created a stark contrast in particular with the major that proceeds it – The French Open, which is played on clay. These two surfaces can almost be seen as the exact opposite of each other. Grass is very slick with the ball skidding much more and has tradtionally been seen as a serve-volleyers surface. The clay at Rolland Garros is much slower and is more suited to more »
