Wimbledon: grass-court tennis and its English rituals

On the close-cropped green grass of a London court, two players dressed in immaculate white exchange balls in an almost religious silence, barely disturbed by the muffled "pock" of the strike. In the stands, people savour strawberries and cream; no advertising sullies the surroundings of the court; and somewhere, a line of campers has waited since dawn for a ticket. None of this is by chance: it is the etiquette of a place unique in the world, Wimbledon.

Wimbledon is the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, held each summer in London since 1877. The only Grand Slam tournament still played on grass, it stands out as much for its history as for its unchanging rituals — the compulsory white, the strawberries, the queue. To understand Wimbledon is to grasp how a sport became, in England, a national ceremony as codified as a royal tea.

The invention of a sport and a tournament#

Modern tennis — lawn tennis — was born in Victorian England. In 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield patented a game of ball and racket playable on grass, which he christened with the improbable Greek name of sphairistike. This game derives from real tennis (the medieval indoor game), played for centuries, but adapts it to the open air and to the lawns of bourgeois residences.

The tournament itself was born in 1877, when the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club — a croquet club in Wimbledon, then a suburb of London — organised a championship to fund the repair of a grass roller. Twenty-two players competed, Spencer Gore won before two hundred spectators. From this modest competition was born the event the whole world follows today.

Wimbledon did not merely see a tournament born: it fixed, on its grass, the very idea of what a great tennis tournament should be.

The last sanctuary of grass#

The technical singularity of Wimbledon lies in its surface: grass, whereas the three other Grand Slam tournaments are played on hard courts (Australian Open, US Open) or clay (Roland-Garros). In the beginning, all the great tournaments were played on grass; Wimbledon is the last to have held firm, making grass its signature and its challenge.

This surface imposes a particular game: the ball flies fast, bounces low, rewards the serve-and-volley and short points. The lawns, composed of 100% ryegrass, are maintained with an almost horticultural obsession, mown to a few millimetres. The Centre Court, the main court and beating heart of the tournament, acquired in 2009 a retractable roof allowing play despite the famous English rain — a concession to modernity in a sanctuary that grants few.

The code of white#

No rule symbolises the spirit of Wimbledon better than that of the all-white dress. Players must be dressed "almost entirely" in white — a requirement inherited from the Victorian era, when white elegantly hid perspiration, judged improper. Where the other tournaments allow every colour, Wimbledon has maintained this discipline with a famous rigour.

The regulation is of a pernickety precision: white must dominate, colour trims are limited to one centimetre, and even visible undergarments must comply. Great champions have been called to order for a too-colourful sole or a touch of colour too many. This intransigence, far from annoying the public, is part of the charm: at Wimbledon, appearance too obeys tradition.

Strawberries, Pimm's and the art of waiting#

Wimbledon is also a culinary and social experience with precise rituals. Its edible star is the strawberry and cream (strawberries and cream): tens of tonnes are consumed each year during the fortnight, served in their little cup, accompanied by a glass of Pimm's, the English summer cocktail par excellence. To eat strawberries at Wimbledon is not an option, it is a sacrament.

Another institution: The Queue. Thousands of enthusiasts camp for hours, sometimes the whole night, on the grass of a neighbouring park, to obtain one of the tickets sold on the day — including for Centre Court. To queue in order, with patience and good humour, is here a rite almost as serious as the tournament itself, and a distillation of the British art of civilised waiting.

A verdant myth#

Today, Wimbledon remains the symbolic summit of tennis, the title every player dreams of engraving on their record, celebrated for its old-fashioned beauty as much as for its sporting intensity. The long British drought — no local male winner from Fred Perry in 1936 until Andy Murray in 2013 — added to the dramatic tension of each edition a poignant national dimension.

From the grass roller of 1877 to today's retractable roofs, Wimbledon has crossed everything without renouncing any of its soul. To discover it is to understand that a sport can also be a liturgy, where the grass, the white and the strawberries count as much as the score — and to learn English is to be able to savour, in Wingfield's language, that very British blend of fierce competition and impeccable composure.

FAQ#

What is Wimbledon? Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, held in London since 1877 by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. It is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, and the only one still played on grass.

Why are players dressed in white at Wimbledon? Because the regulation requires an almost entirely white dress, a tradition inherited from the Victorian era when white masked perspiration. Colour trims are strictly limited, and the rule is applied with great rigour.

Why are strawberries and cream eaten at Wimbledon? It is an old tradition of the tournament: strawberries and cream, served with a glass of Pimm's, have become Wimbledon's emblematic dish, of which tens of tonnes are consumed each year during the fortnight.

Why is Wimbledon played on grass? Because originally all the great tennis tournaments were played on grass. Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam to have kept this surface, which has become its signature and imposes a fast, low game.

Photo credits: the images used in this article come from Pexels and Unsplash and are royalty-free.