The wait is over – Wimbledon Championships is upon us once again. Having first began in 1877 makes it the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely considered the most prestigious. In our excitement for the tournament to start, we have compiled these fun facts that I doubt many people will know……..!
Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam that is played on grass courts and the grass is cut to the exact height of 8mm.
54,250 tennis balls are used throughout the Championship period and every single ball is hand-tested for its bounce, weight and compression.
Wimbledon has it’s very own Hawk called Rufus whose job is to scare away the pigeons each morning from the tennis courts – he even has his own twitter account!
Every year, around 27,000kg of strawberries and 7000 litres of cream is served during the 2-week tournament.
Tennis balls weren’t always yellow – they used to be white but were changed in 1986 so that they were more visible on television.
The longest ever tennis match played in a Wimbledon Championship was in 2010 tournament between John Isner (US) and Nicolas Mahut (France) which lasted 183 games and took 11hr, 5 mins across 3 days!
A Wimbledon tournament has only ever been interrupted twice in the last 140 years – once for WW1 and again for WW2.
The youngest ever Wimbledon champion was aged just 15 – Martina Hingis who won a doubles championship in 1996.
There is a strict dress code – all players must be dressed almost entirely in white and players must submit their clothing for approval in advance. Roger Federer was once asked to change his trainers for the following game as they had an orange sole!
The fastest ever serve ever recorded hit 148 mph!
Enjoy Wimbledon 2017 Championships!
Starting Monday 3rd July.
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