It’s been just three days that Wimbledon started but the action packed performances and the players is what is making the first week of the tournament attractive. We all know that there are 4 grand slams in the year ,so what makes SW19 so special and so different from others .here we have gathered 9 facts that Make Wimbledon Different than All Other Grand Slams.
Oldest Grand Slam Tournament
Yes this is something what makes Wimbledon so grate and it is a pleasure to play at the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. Founded in 1877, Wimbledon is the oldest of the four grand slam tournaments. US Open is closest to it in age as it was founded in 1881, followed by French in 1891 and Australian in 1905. But till 1924/25
Grass Court
While the other three grand slams are played on few common surfaces like hard and clay. Wimbledon still sticks its old surface grass. And yes we only have few tournaments on grass in the annual calendar like 2-3 so this also excites players to perform well on this surface and tournament.
White Dress Code
Ohh this is something to that has always been the point of debate for players and for fans to. There have been times when major players have been threatened of disqualification when their dress wasn’t in accordance with Wimbledon’s dress code. In 2013, Roger Federer was told not wear his orange soled trainers. And yes the players are even given the notice for breaking the dress code.
Center Court’s Retractable Roof
We all remember how the rain interrupted our epic matches at the center court and sometimes changed the whole scenario of the game. The 3000 ton retractable roof cost 80 million pounds and it takes 10 minutes in covering the whole arena. The roof is flooded with lights that can create an effect just as the open roof court would have and is provided with nine Air Conditioning Units which pump 143,000 liters of air into arena each second to maintain the interior at 24 C and 50% humidity.
Harris Hawks
There is no other game in the world where a animal is used and is a part of the game so deeply. a Harris Hawk named “Rufus” serves as guard against the pigeons. Rufus has been diligently serving by taking a flight of 4 hours over the center court and adjoining courts making sure that no pigeon finds home in the Center Court’s roof which seems like a pretty fine place to be selected as abode by pigeons .sound interesting …
Center Court Bombing
I can’t recall to have ever heard of any other grand slam’s venue to have been bombed other than Wimbledon’s Center Court which was the site of landing of five bombs during the World War II.Twelve hundred seats were damaged in this attack and it took nine years to fully restore the court.
Number of Balls Used in the Tournament
Wimbledon uses a fixed number of tennis balls for every edition of the tournament. That number is 54, 250. This number of balls is exclusive for Wimbledon. A ball is used for seven to nine games. Those balls which are not being used are kept in special refrigerated containers to preserve their quality.
Seeding System
This is a thing which made me so confused as till now I have not got how the seeding are made. Sometimes it make the fans so angry and unjust to see their loving player placed low as they thought so . The accumulated ATP points are not the only factor All England Club takes into account while seeding players at Wimbledon but a host of other factors are also incorporated while doing the calculations and discussing them here isn’t the point.
Highest Prize Money
This is what makes the players more happy , With 5% increment in last year’s prize money, Wimbledon has become the highest paid tennis event in the world with a prize money of whooping 28.1 million pounds.
