Wimbledon: What Makes It So Special?

A Unique Slam

“I am a bit amazed by the amount of coverage this particular tournament is getting. I mean I’ve never seen any other sport other than cricket which has bothered news channels with special shows and expert reviews but, this one… What makes this so special?” asked a friend of mine.

Ask Boris Becker and he would say “To me it’s the most important tournament” ….

Ask Roger Federer and he would say “It’s always special to be back here, after all this where it all began!”….

Ask Maria Sharapova and she would say “I would still take it if I won 10 titles and nothing anywhere else”….

It all started 125 summers ago, in the year 1877, at the All England Croquet Club just as a tournament to raise money for repairing a broken roller at the club and now- it is one of the greatest sporting events in the world!

If you haven’t still guessed, I am talking about the Wimbledon- the Mecca or Disneyland of Tennis, as many would call it and rightly so. Each time a player walks into this theatre, they are like an ardent pilgrim on the verge of realizing a dream- a dream they have nurtured right from their early tennis lessons-which is to play here, here in the front of this English crowd.

And for people to ask “What is in it that makes it so great?” is very much obvious because none of them expect a tournament played just once in a year, spanning over just 2 weeks, situated on a road which for 11 months shows no signs of this upcoming festival and is in fact a home for driving tutors and pet walkers- to be special just like that, just because it is one of the four Grand Slams. Surely there must be a reason, something unique there.

One thing is certain, though lucrative, it can’t alone be the reason, because the 20 million dollars on offer here is comparable to that on offer at New York, Paris and Melbourne which have themselves staged Grand Slams for at least a century now. Then what is it that makes this London showpiece stand alone?

The majestic centre court

Well there are many things unique to “the Championships” at Wimbledon. One obvious thing is that it is only Grand Slam played on grass and more importantly the only Slam to retain its original surface. In may ways it’s different from the other majors- the French Open, the US Open and the Australian Open. The complete white dress code, the royal box, hardly visible advertisement boards, the strawberries and cream are all unique to Wimbledon and as soon as the championships begin we see a change- a sudden one when men become gentlemen, women become ladies and a “shut up” becomes a “thank you”!

Many would say that the major reason for the incredible success of this tournament is that “nothing has changed here over these years, it has always been the same and that is the reason for it being so special”. But is it so? Certainly I not would say. I mean, don’t we have state-of-the-art facilities for the players and fans here? Don’t we have modern technology being used here? Remember the 84 million pound roof? Well I would say that it has just been an illusion all along and well to create one must have taken great efforts, but believe me this illusion is precisely the reason why the Wimbledon stands where it is now. It has successfully achieved what no other sporting event has ever done, which is to preserve its great traditions, swim deep in the sea of changes amidst a seaming changelessness.

It is definitely this achievement along with the emotions it invokes in every tennis fan which makes it special, makes it stand alone and which makes each of us stand up and say “What a tournament it was this time, I can’t wait for the next one!”