Wimbledon

The Wimbledon Tennis Championships played on the famous grass courts of the All England Club in southwest London are one of the highlights of the sporting year in Britain and probably the most coverted titles to win for any tennis player.

The tournament at Wimbledon lasts for two weeks, this year from 23 June-6 July 2008, with the very best players in the world competing in mens and womens singles, doubles, mixed doubles and junior events. There are nineteen courts in use at Wimbledon allowing fans a great chance to see some action. The two main show courts are Centre Court which seats 14,000 and No.1 Court which seats 11,000. The most high profile matches featuring the very top seeds or defending champions usually take place on these courts although if you walk around the other courts during play you will definitely see some of the top players.

Tickets
As you’d expect with any major sporting event these days tickets are at a premium. For most of the tickets to Centre, No.1 and No.2 Court’s Wimbledon runs a public ballot, applications for which close the previous 31st December. They do however retain 500 tickets for each of those courts which they sell at the turnstiles every day of the tournament except the last four.

Around 6000 ground tickets are available each day for purchase at the turnstiles allowing use of the free-standing enclosure on No. 2 Court and unreserved seating and standing round Courts 3-19. All on-day ticket sales including those for Centre and No.1 courts are through the turnstiles at Gate 3 in Church Road.

If you purchase a ground pass for the day for Courts 2-19 and there’s less than one hour’s play due to the weather, which sometimes happens during the British summer, you will get a full refund as long as you bought your ticket before 5pm. Ticket prices vary with what day of the tournament you attend and what courts you are watching from. Tickets for No.1 and No.2 Court’s are £36 and £29 on the Monday of the first week and £60 and £42 on the Monday of the second week respectively for example. Tickets sold at turnstiles are cash only purchases. You can buy tickets after 5pm which will be available for around half price or less.

Queueing
You’ll find that some of the die-hard fans will queue up overnight for some of the show court tickets especially if they know a certain player has a made it through and will be playing that day. Wimbledon now have tried and trusted procedures to manage the queueing. Stewards are on duty 24 hours a day and on joining the queue you are given a dated and numbered Queue Card which is evidence of your presence and position in the queue and must be retained until you reach the turnstiles and have purchased a ticket.

If you’re camping out overnight you’ll be woken around 6am by the stewards and asked to clear up any tents and sleeping bags, there’s a Left Luggage facility which opens at 6.30am where you can leave your belongings. At 7.30am stewards will issue wristbands to those towards the front of each queue who are queueing for tickets for Centre Court, No.1 Court or Court 2.

The turnstiles will open at 9.30am although most of the Grounds don’t open up until 10.30am. Play on the courts is scheduled to start at 1pm.

Getting There
The All England Club is located about six miles southwest of central London in the leafy suburbs of Wimbledon close to Wimbledon Park, Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park (Map). Being in a mainly residential area fans planning to drive there will find parking a problem, its much easier to use public transport.

Southfields and Wimbledon Park Underground stations both on the District Line are about half a mile from the All England Club, while Wimbledon train and Underground station is just under a mile away. Overground trains leave Waterloo station and take about 14 minutes to get to Wimbledon. There’s also a direct shuttle bus service that runs all day from Wimbledon and Southfield stations to the All England Club for the duration of the tournament, and London General operates a bus service direct from Marble Arch and Victoria to the tennis at Wimbledon every 30 minutes over the two weeks.

You’re not going to find the Wimbledon area overrun with hotels, many of the players rent out private houses if they don’t want to have to travel from a main hotel in the centre of town. For fans public transport makes the championships easily accessible from other parts of the city where a greater range of accomodation can be found.

Here are the Wimbledon contact details
The All England Lawn Tennis Club
Church Road,
Wimbledon,
London SW19 5AE

Ticket Office (not a Box Office)
Open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm
Tel:020 8971 2473 (UK)
+44 20 8971 2473 (Overseas)
Fax:020 8971 2528 (UK)
+44 20 8971 2528 (Overseas)