Anyone for tennis?

Time for tennis

Wimbledon fortnight starts today. Strawberries and cream. Sunshine and showers. What could be more British?

It’s the oldest tennis tournament in the world and has been held at the All England Club in the London suburb of Wimbledon since 1877. 128 players will start on 20th June for the crown, the singles prize.

There have been several British winners over the last two centuries from William Renshaw (1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1889) to Lottie Dod who was the youngest winner in 1887. Fred Perry (1934, 1935, 1936) is Great Britain’s most successful player. The winning women seem to have done better with Virginia Wade, Ann Haydon Jones and Sue Barker. In fact Virginia was the last British woman to reach a Grand Slam final.

Today the players still wear white, yellow balls are used and the men no longer wear long trousers. Another change is the prize pot which stands at £14,600,000 (over 20 million USD).

My racquets are fairly stationary these days. But I do enjoy watching the game with a tall glass of Pimm’s, slice of orange and perhaps wearing my tennis balls on my sleeve.

Fingers crossed for our hopefuls Andy Murray, Laura Robson, Heather Watson and James Ward.