About Wimbledon

It's mid-June, there are 19 immaculately prepared grass courts, mountains of strawberries and cream, plenty of champagne on ice and the best tennis players in the world waiting to perform, it can only be The Championships, Wimbledon 2012. Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in the London suburb of Wimbledon since 1877.

Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments that occur each year and is considered by many to be the most prestigious of them all. It's the only Grand Slam tournament still being played on the game's original surface, grass, which gave the game of lawn tennis its name.

Qualifying for Wimbledon 2012 takes place between 13th to the 16th of June with the seeds being announced on 15th June and the Draw taking place on 17th June. The Championships, Wimbledon 2011 runs over two weeks between 20th June and 3rd July, beginning on a Monday with the middle Sunday a designated rest day and finishing with the Women's Singles Final on Saturday 2nd July and the Men's Singles Final on Sunday 3rd July, both taking place on Centre Court.

Wimbledon is also synonomous with the British Public's desperation to see a home grown winner. The last British Winner was Virgina Wade in 1977, but if you're looking for a British Mens Winner you have to go all the way back to Fred Perry in 1936! Every year the media frenzy seems to grow to higher levels and exerts immense pressure on the local tennis players who by and large have failed fairly miserably. Recent players Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman have gone close but now it falls on the shoulders of Andy Murray to carry the burden of British hope and judging by his current form it looks like he may have a chance.

The Championships, Wimbledon is a very unique event with strong traditions that include a strict dress code for competitors (mostly white), the eating of strawberries and cream, the absence of sponsor advertising around the courts and Royal patronage. The Duke of Kent and the Duchess of Kent attend frequently each year and present the trophies while other members of the Royal family are regular visitors. In 2010 The Queen paid a visit to Wimbledon, meeting the top four seeds in the ladies' singles - the Williams sisters, Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic, and leading men's players Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer. After lunch, the Queen took her seat in the Royal Box to watch Andy Murray.

• Wimbledon 2011 will be the 125th time that The All England Lawn Tennis Club will have hosted The Championships since the first tournament in 1877.
• There were no Championships held between 1915-1918 and 1940-1945 due to the First World War and Second World War.
• The BBC will be filming Antiques Roadshow at the All England Club on 25 August 2011, for broadcast in September/October 2011.
• The BBC has broadcast the tournament on television in the UK for over 70 years, starting in 1937 and holds the broadcast rights for Wimbledon until 2014.
• The Gentlemen's Singles champion receives a silver gilt cup 18.5 inches in height and 7.5 inches in diameter.
• The Ladies' Singles champion receives a sterling silver salver, known as the "Venus Rosewater Dish". The salver, which is 18.75 inches in diameter, is decorated with figures from mythology.
• For the 2011 Wimbledon Championships the total prize money is £14,600,000 an increase of 6.4% from 2010.
• Both male and female singles champions prize money will also increase to £1,100,000, a rise of 10% on the previous year.
• Winner of most Gentlemen's Singles titles - William Renshaw & Pete Sampras with 7
• Winner of most Ladies' Singles titles - Martina Navratilova with 9
• Lowest-ranked winner (men or women) - Goran Ivanisevic ranked 125th in 2001
• Youngest winner (men) - Boris Becker aged 17 in 1985
• Youngest winner (women) - Charlotte Dod aged 15 in 1887
• Longest final - Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal over 4hrs 48mins in 2008
• Longest match - John Isner vs Nicolas Mahut 183 games over 11hrs 5mins in 2010
• Wimbledon is the largest single annual sporting catering operation in Europe. All the catering is undertaken by Facilities Management Catering Limited. The quantity of food and drink served during the fortnight is enormous. Typical examples are:
  1. 300,000 cups of tea and coffee
  2. 190,000 sandwiches
  3. 150,000 buns, scones, pasties and doughnuts
  4. 200,000 glasses of Pimm's
  5. 135,000 ice creams
  6. 100,000 pints of draught beer and lager
  7. 30,000 portions of fish and chips
  8. 30,000 litres of milk
  9. 28,000 kilos of English strawberries
  10. 22,000 slices of pizza
  11. 17,000 bottles of champagne
  12. 12,000 kilos of poached/smoked salmon
  13. 7,000 litres of dairy cream