In the footsteps of Wimbledon: Recent Episodes
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Hi, this is Wimbledon! Receive the serve! Stories about the most famous sports tournament – a summer blockbuster held in a coliseum with tennis rackets – are waiting for you. All of this is in one place! We will guide you though the territory of sport, passion and rivalry!The tour written and recorded by studio Audioguides.ruPhoto Tennis Racket and Balls.jpg by Spyder Monkey is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License _______Podcast based on audio guide In the footsteps of Wimbledon Author: Tours around the world In the podcast format you may enjoy stories remotely; if you go out and experience the audio tour on location it is adviced to use the izi.TRAVEL application that really guides you and plays stories automaticly based on your position
Our educational walk through Wimbledon is over. We are glad to have helped you learn the history of this great tournament from the inside and to have shown these stadiums from a different angle.
Photo Wimbledon ballgirl 2007.jpg by FlickreviewR is licensed under Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Can you see the four-level construction just below Centre Court? This is No 1 Court. It's the second largest arena here, despite its No 1 name. It was originally built in 1928 to the west of Centre Court and could fit 7 000 spectators, but because of its low capacity seating, Court № 1 was moved and rebuilt. The court’s second appearance occurred nearly 70 years after the first - in 1997. Now it can fit 11 500 people, but new plans for improvement and expansion already exist.
Photo Centre Court, 28 March 2012.jpg by File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske) is licensed under Attribution 2.0 Generic
It's no secret that tickets for the main matches at Wimbledon are very expensive and not available to everyone. And if a member of the royal family is coming to a particular match, the prices immediately soar higher than the ball after the strongest of serves. But there is a budget way to see a match. Tim Henman Hill, or just Henman Hill, is a place where anyone can watch the games for free.
Photo Henman Hill rear.jpg by Spyder Monkey is licensed under public domain
The first traditions of the tournament came about on July 9, 1877, when the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club held a competition in tennis men's singles. Seven years later, women were allowed to participate in the tournament and the first winner was Maud Watson, who beat her own sister in the finals.
Each year the tournament begins exactly six weeks before August 1 and lasts for two weeks, skipping the first Sunday. The schedule might have to be changed slightly due to long periods of rain, but the retractable roof has somewhat solved this problem.
Photo Wimbledon trophies.jpg by Poke2001~commonswiki is licensed under Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Even after the tournament is finished, flying balls and the passionate cries of the athletes continue above the local grounds. Dozens of training grounds are located inside the stadium complex. Here, athletes can work on their technique at any time, weather permitting. . There is no external electric lighting at these courts, so any game or workout ends at nightfall, except, of course, for the finals on Centre Court.
Photo Wimbledon Grojean 2004 RJL.JPG by File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske) is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License
Records are important at Wimbledon and the club created a special department to keep track of them.
Among the men there are three champions tied for first place in overall victories at Wimbledon: Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and William Renshaw. Each of them has seven wins in the finals, but all in different centuries. Renshaw was a seven-time champion in the 19th century, Sampras in the 20th, and Federer in the 21st, but this record can of course still be broken in the future.
In the women's league there is only one absolute champion - Martina Navratilova, with nine victories in the finals. Moreover, she became the oldest winner of the tournament. At the time she won her ninth final, she was almost 47 years old.
The youngest champions of the tournament were 17-year-old Boris Becker and 15-year-old Martina Hingis.
Photo Serena Williams Wimbledon 2015.jpg by Kacir is licensed under Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Speaking of Wimbledon, we can't get away from the topic of strawberries. strawberry topic. And I'm not talking about the exciting cries of the players on the court, but about the delicious strawberries and cream.
Strawberries and cream has become a tradition for Wimbledon. Freshly picked berries have been brought to Wimbledon every morning of each tournament for many decades. Kent county annually provides guests of the tournament with nearly thirty tons of delicious Elsanta variety strawberries, grown on the same plantation. The strawberries are sorted into cardboard baskets or plastic cups ten pieces per container; cream is poured in, and then they’re sold to all comers.
Photo Strawberries and cream Wimbledon 2014.jpg by Kacir is licensed under Attribution 2.0 Generic
This museum is the biggest tennis museum in the world, founded in 1977. Different sports artifacts – the oldest of them from 1555 – can be found here. But the main feature of the museum is technology: you'll get access to interactive screens and audio guides in dozens of languages; all of this will help immerse you in the best moments of the tournament.
Photo Seles outfit and racket.jpg by Flickr upload bot is licensed under Attribution 2.0 Generic
We can talk about sport and the pursuit of records, but there is always business on the side. The Wimbledon Shop has all kinds of goods for tournament fans: mugs, shirts, rackets, bags, accessories and so on and so forth. But we won't count others’ income. Just note that the organizers are spending very considerable sums for the prize payout alone. The sum of the total prize fund at Wimbledon is growing every year and it's already more than 22 million pounds.
Photo The Wimbledon Shop.jpg by Mvkulkarni23 is licensed under Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
To the east of the stadium complex there are nine acres of land set aside for a relaxing time and intense training. There’s a field for hockey, seven tennis courts, eight tennis courts with hard cover, five squash courts and a fitness center. All of these belong to the Wimbledon Club, which is regularly visited by lovers of an active lifestyle, and not just by professional athletes.
Photo Wimbledon common 1944.jpg by File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske) is licensed under public domain
No sports contest is without its superstitions. Some players carry their favorite equipment or mascots, some prefer specific arenas and try to avoid other arenas. . The "Graveyard of Champions", as you might guess from its name, is an example of the latter.
Photo Wimbledon Court 2.jpg by Flickr upload bot is licensed under Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
The golden era of tennis, which gave us legends like Bill Tilden, ended long before our time. us. But modern athletes don’t indulge in nostalgia, and they endeavor to win awards and titles through much more difficult and exciting circumstances than those faced by winners of past eras. Champions of the 20th and 21st centuries conquered and defended their titles for decades without coming down from their pedestals. But their "golden age" suddenly came to an end through the efforts of a new generation of players. Let us remember these names – the names of tennis legends.
Photo Bill Tilden in color.jpg by Fyunck(click) is licensed under public domain
You are standing in front of the heart of Wimbledon – the Centre Court. The stadium is covered with special Yorkshire grass and watered with the tears of champions. Members of royal families, up to the Kings and Queens of England, and tennis fans from around the world visit this place to see competitions between the best of the best.
Photo Centre Court.jpg by Wolbo is licensed under public domain
All tennis players know that if you win at Wimbledon you can try for a Grand Slam. To win a Grand Slam the player need just win the four biggest tournaments of the calendar year: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. All four victories constitute a Grand Slam and its reward. But if that’s not enough for a player – they can try to achieve the sport’s highest reward – the Golden Slam – by winning gold medals at the Olympic games. Both of them, by the way, are absolutely ephemeral.
Photo Maria Sharapova at 2009 Roland Garros, Paris, France.jpg by Alborzagros is licensed under Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported