Why are there so many empty seats at Wimbledon's iconic Centre Court? British Major's "elitist" reputation called into question

The quality display of tennis so far at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships has been somewhat thwarted by the issue of empty seats on Centre Court leaving many fans unhappy. Most of those seats are said to be situated in and around the Royal Box, playing host to many corporate guests and members of the All England Lawn Tennis Club and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

Fans who have been unlucky in securing tickets for Centre Court seats have been left puzzled and agitated by ticket-holders of hospitality seats, who have been enjoying other benefits provided to them rather than the tennis on display.

As per the Guardian, empty seats were a major issue in matches involving British tennis superstars Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray, among other matches, throughout the first four days of the 2022 Championships. Those who were more interested in watching tennis than anything else, but could not get tickets for matches, have complained about the issue.

The founder of Eden Mill, one of the sponsors of the LTA, spoke about some of the benefits enjoyed by hospitality guests and believes they prefer a "peaceful little bit of time" away from the buzz in the Centre Court stands.

"The ability to have the peaceful little bit of time away from all the hubbub around Wimbledon where there’s a lot of noise and a lot of action going on and being able to step outside and be looked after for a brief time in between matches … in that [hospitality] area."

“The ability to be able to drop in and drop out of the tennis, see as much or as little as you want, and also in our case where we’re hosting a lot of guests – to be able to allow them to do as they wish," Paul Miller said, describing the benefits.

However, hospitality guests stepping out to wine and dine are not the only reason for empty seats and unhappiness among fans. Reportedly, re-sale tickets for the first two days of the event were affected by certain technical glitches, leading to more empty seats. On Wednesday, many fans were left stranded in a queue for a couple of hours to get Centre Court seats.

One fan affected by the issues at Wimbledon expressed his anger towards the organizers, who he believes are concerned about their reputation rather than allowing fans to fill seats and enjoy the matches.

"Hate it. It does leave a bad taste when you see all those empty seats reserved for corporates. Screw the corporate types, they should just go to a fancy restaurant instead. Wimbledon needs to do more to make it seem like it’s not elitist," Max Smith said.

What is different at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships?

Day Four: The Championships - Wimbledon 2022

One of the biggest changes at the 2022 Championships is that the event will not award any ranking points to players. The decision was taken by the governing bodies, the ATP and the WTA, after the All England Club decided to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing this year in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. Players who performed well last year stand to lose the most number of points, irrespective of their performances at Wimbledon 2022.

For the first time in the history of the event, matches will be held on the first Sunday of the Wimbledon fortnight, which is the seventh day of the tournament. Historically, 'middle Sunday' was always an off day at Wimbledon, but that is set to change starting this year.

In another first, it was decided that all matches will be decided by a 'match tiebreaker' if the score is 6-6 in the deciding set, starting this year. This change has been adopted in all four Grand Slam tournaments.

Additionally, there is a new entrance for players to use this year upon arriving for matches on Centre Court. The umpire's chair on Centre Court also has a new design this year.