The 2016 Wimbledon tournament is well underway, and we can see that there are a number of youngsters going toe-to-toe with the big guns. The likes of James Ward, Kyle Edmund, Ruben Bemelmans, Alexander Ward, Marcus Willis and others have the honour of playing against the likes of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Roger Federer, and for many of them this chance is a dream come true.
These youngsters grew up with the names of Federer and Djokovic on their lips and they idolized them, so getting the opportunity to play against them is no small accomplishment. Even if they get swatted aside during the match, that would not matter much because they would get a lot of exposure and lessons from the experience.
But it's not just young tennis players who can learn a lot from Wimbledon; the fans watching at home can imbibe plenty of great lessons too. So without further ado here are 5 things that we can learn from the Wimbledon Championships:
(To get a taste of Wimbledon right in your home, you can buy the official Wimbledon towel from the Welspun store).
1. The rich history of the tournament
Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and it remains the only Grand Slam to be played on grasscourts. The Australian Open and US Open are both played on hardcourt, while the French Open is played on clay.
The uniqueness of the surface is not the only thing that sets Wimbledon apart though. Right since its inception in 1877, Wimbledon has been considered the Holy Grail of tennis – the granddaddy of all tennis events. While it is not officially the most important tournament of the year, there is little doubting its pre-eminence in the consciousness of both players and historians.
There have been plenty of historic moments on the court at SW19 too. Wimbledon’s renamed Court No. 3 was notoriously nicknamed as the Graveyard of Champions because a number of world champions suffered shock first round exits like John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Martina Hingis, the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova, to name a few. And arguably the two greatest matches of all time - the 1980 final between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, and the 2008 final between Federer and Nadal – were both played at Wimbledon!
2. Getting to know London's culture – especially strawberries and cream!
It may be part of the tournament’s rich history, but the Championships have had a nearly 150-year association with strawberries and cream. The traditional English dessert is served at every championships, with fans queuing up for hours to taste it.
There were two main reasons for the historical association - strawberries were in season at the time the tournament was played, and the fruit was at the time ‘fashionable’ among those from Victorian England.
The association has remained ever since, and despite the high price of the food at the venue, fans clamour for the snack at the Championships.
Of course, strawberries and cream form just one part of the culture that we acquaint ourselves with. The Royal heritage, the famed English politeness, the notoriously fickle weather – we get to see all of that and more!
3. The tournament almost always throws up marathon matches
Tennis has seen its fair share of marathon matches but the one that takes the cake is the 2010 1st round match between American John Isner and Frenchman Nicholas Mahut. The epic battle lasted an astounding 11 hours and 5 minutes over a span of three days! Since Wimbledon follows the age-old rule that if the match is stretched to 5 sets, the fifth and final set will not be a tiebreaker, the scoreboard read 6/4, 3/6, 6/7, 7/6, 70/68 in favor of Isner!
The longest Wimbledon final was the 2008 one between Nadal and Federer, which lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes with the scoreboard reading 6/4, 6/4, 6/7, 6/7, 9/7 in favour of Nadal. But there have been marathons too – the 2009 final between Federer and Andy Roddick, the 2014 final between Federer and Djokovic, and the 2005 women's final between Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport, to name just a few. Because there is so much on the line at Wimbledon, you will never see a player giving up easily!
4. The importance of tennis whites (and other colour codes)
The Wimbledon Club follows and enforces strict guidelines to the spectators, players, referees and staff with regard to the dress code. Dark green and purple are the traditional colors which are used by the staff in Wimbledon. Referees usually wear green, ball boys and girls have to wear navy blue and the players have to wear white. A few colour enhancements are permitted as long as the colors are not easily distinguishable.
Even the mighty and famous aren’t exempt from this rule. Swiss Maestro Roger Federer was once disciplined because his white tennis shoes had orange uppers!
Some see Wimbledon's adherence to a dress code as overly restrictive, but it's hard to deny the pleasing aesthetics that are developed with disciplined attire. Most team sports in the world have colour-coded uniforms too, and that always contributes to enhancing the spectacle of the sport. Wimbledon tries to implement a colour-coded uniform scheme of its own, and it's been a grand success all these years!
Even the official Wimbledon towel has a distinct design and material structure. And in case you didn't know, you can buy your own official Wimbledon towel from from the Welspun store, and get fabulous free gifts in the process!
5. Fast-court play is something else entirely!
Wimbledon gives fans an insight into basic physics. With the Championships played right after the French Open on the Grand Slam calendar, players make a gradual transition from the slowest surface – clay – to the fastest.
The tennis ball grips on clay due to the friction between the ball and the court surface; this is not the case at Wimbledon, where the ball has a smaller, more slippery surface area to grip on to.
This may seem like an ‘easy’ lesson, but watching the players dramatically alter their style of play gives fans a crucial understanding of just how much tennis depends on physics. Attack is rewarded more than defense, precision is more valuable than consistency, the margin of error is lower, and most strikingly, patience is of the utmost importance.
And all that because the surface plays faster!
