TRADITION !!

Wimbledon and Tradition go together like … Rafa and knee length pants, Arod and big serves, Roland Garros and red clay, Pete Sampras and the Wimbledon Trophy.

The Grass

The grass courts at Wimbledon are 100 percent rye grass which is considered the slowest of the four different types of grass courts worldwide. There are nineteen main courts and twenty two practice courts. Although Center and Court One are not in use except during the Championships, the other forty are used by the members of the club on a regular basis.

As you can imagine, maintaining these courts takes a tremendous year round effort. Approximately one ton of seed is used yearly. During the Championships the courts are relined, rolled, and mowed to a precise 8mm in height every day. A maximum of 3,000 gallons of water is allotted for use during the two weeks…. Of course most of the time, mother nature provides more than enough water to keep the grass green. A special compound that contains china clay is used to create the white lines.

.

White Clothing

Predominately white clothing is still required for all players. This tradition was started because it was thought that perspiration did not show as much on white clothing. A couple of years ago, the juniors got wind of the fact that if you show up for a match in a colored shirt, the tournament would give you a white one… I don’t have to tell you how many juniors came wearing colored shirts!

Bow and Curtsy

In the old days, the male players had to bow and the female players had to curtsy to any member of the British royal family who sat in the Royal Box, but progress has been made, Now players must bow or curtsy only if Queen Elizabeth or her son, Charles, the Prince of Wales is at the match.

Middle Sunday

No play on the middle Sunday. I’ve talked about this. This in my opinion is the BEST tradition, one that is unique to Wimbledon and that I hope they never change.

Strawberries and Cream

How did this treat become synonymous with the Championships? The tradition started around the time of the first Wimbledon tournament in 1877. The simple fact is that the event was played at the only time of year that strawberries were available, and that it was a fashionable thing to eat in the late 1800.

Being a California girl used to giant costal strawberries, I was suspicious of the rather small berries served here, but they are surprisingly tasty. The official berry for Wimbledon is the Elsanta variety and more that 2 million berries and 1, 820 gallons of double cream are served each year.

Referring to players

Female players are referred to by the title "Miss" or "Mrs" on the scoreboards and by the chair umpires. The title Mr. is not used for male players on scoreboards, but the chair umpires refer to players as Mr. when they use the replay challenge.

Towels

The Women get two tone pink and blue towels, and the men have dark green purple and beige.

Colors and uniforms

Dark Green and purple are the traditional colors of Wimbledon.

Green clothing was worn by the chair umpire, linesmen, ball boys and ball girls until the 2005 Championships; however, beginning with the 2006 Championships, officials, ball boys and ball girls were outfitted in new navy blue and cream colored uniforms from American designer Ralph Lauren. This marked the first time in the history of the Championships that an outside company was used to design Wimbledon clothing. All photographer’s hate these outfits. You have no idea how many photographs have to be thrown away because of a distracting white trouser leg appearing between a players legs or from behind a player, making him look like he has three legs. Plus the fact the frankly a lot of these older women look dreadful in those cream pants or skirts. The navy jackets with white trim are also terroble. You constantly have horrible lines coming out from behind your player. We have all complained bitterly about these uniforms, and hopefully they will be changed when the contract is up in 2009.

Advertising

While every other tennis event in the world is a veritable bill board, Wimbledon had kept the tradition of no advertising. This provides very nice plain backgrounds that we all loved before the advent of the terrible Ralph Lauren official’s clothing.

So there you have it, some of the traditions of the most prestigious tennis event in the world. Let me know if I’ve missed any.