Wimbledon Betting Offers 2020

History of Wimbledon

The Wimbledon Championship is today, identified as Wimbledon and is the oldest tournament in the world. It is seen as the world’s most elite event in the sport of tennis and has, since 1877, been held at the Wimbledon All England Club in London, England. Played on courts made of grass, it is one of four tournaments in tennis that are designated as Grand Slam tournaments. The others that fall under this classification include the French Open, Australian Open and U.S. Open. 

Wimbledon is unique as it is the only tournament that uses a grass surface outdoors and is held each year at the end of June over the course of two weeks. A popular tournament with spectators, it draws the elite of society, including the royals and carries a firm dress code where only white is allowed to be worn and does not permit on-court advertising. It includes multiple main event categories including gentlemen singles, ladies singles, gentlemen doubles and ladies doubles.

Main Competition Events:

Wimbledon is designed around five main events as noted within the intro: Gentlemen and Ladies Singles, Gentlemen and Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles. In addition to the gentlemen and ladies single and double events, the tournament includes special events for junior boy singles, junior girl singles, junior boy doubles and junior girl doubles. There is also events for senior gentlemen over the age of 45 including invitation doubles, invitational doubles for ladies over the age of 35 as well as wheelchair gentlemen wheelchair doubles.

The tournament gets underway on the first Monday that falls between June 20th and June 26th. It consists of 128 players that compete in the singles event, 64 competing in the doubles event and 48 who compete in the mixed doubles event. Entry is based on qualifying for the tournament however based on an individual players international rank, automatic entry is possible and awarded to the top 32 gentlemen and ladies. In contrast, for the doubles event, 16 teams are awarded entry based on their international rank.

Singles (128 matches)

The singles competition consists of 128 matches that are played on the grass court. This is an elimination styled tournament that includes 32 male/female players based on their international ranking. Matches continue until the 16, 8, 4 and final two players remain whereby one will be crowned the winner.

Ladies’ Singles (128 matches)

The completion for Ladies is identical to the gentleman’s with it featuring 128 matches on a groomed grass court. As with the Gentlemen’s, it is based on elimination matches where those who lose are eliminated from the tournament until such time that two remain with one being determined the winner after a best of five set final.

Gentlemen’s Doubles (64 matches)

The Gentlemen’s Doubles is reduced to 64 matches and, much like the singles events, is played on a grass court. It also determines the winner based on teams who win while those who lose being eliminated. This continues until the final two teams face off in the finals to determine the winner.

Ladies’ Doubles (64 matches)

The Ladies Doubles is carried out identically to the Gentlemen’s Doubles and consists of 64 matches. All matches are played on a grass surface and in the same fashion as the Gentlemen and Ladies Singles. The Doubles events are based on an elimination tournament until a winner is determined in the final.

Mixed Doubles (48 matches)

The Mixed Doubles features 48 matches in total, including the final and as with all other categories in the tournament, is an elimination styled event whereby the winner of any given match advances and the losing player is eliminated.

Junior events

Boys’ Singles (64 matches)

The Boys Singles is for those under the age of 18. It features 64 elimination styled matches on a grass court. After the quarterfinals and semifinals winners have been determined, the final two remaining players will play in the final to determine the winner.

Girls’ Singles (64 matches)

The competition for Single Girls is another that is identical in nature to the competition of the Boys Singles. It uses the elimination format which eliminated those who fail to win their matches and advances those that win until such time as two remain whereby a final match is played to determine the Girls Singles winner. 

Boys’ Doubles (32 matches)

The Boys Doubles completion is played out over 32 matches until there are two remaining players. This, as with all other Wimbledon categories, uses elimination matches to whittle down entries to determine the winner, which is resultant from a final match.

Girls’ Doubles (32 matches)

Identical to the Boys Doubles, the Girls Doubles has 32 matches where those who win their matches advance and those that do not are eliminated. Played on a grass court, the winner is determined during the final after the quarter and semifinals are completed.

Gentlemen’s Wheelchair Singles

The Gentlemen’s Wheelchair Singles is an invitational tournament that features four players. Due to the limited number of invited entries, only two matches are played with the winner from each advancing to the final to determine the winner.

Ladies’ Wheelchair Singles (4 pairs)

The Ladies’ Wheelchair Singles is identical to the Gentlemen’s Wheelchair Singles with four invited players who play one match each. The winner of each will advance and play in the final.

Gentlemen’s Wheelchair Doubles (4 pairs)

Similarly to the Wheelchair Singles category, the Gentlemen’s Wheelchair Doubles is an invitational only event whereby a total two matches are played and the winner of each heading to the final where the winner will be awarded the trophy. 

Ladies’ Wheelchair Doubles (4 pairs)

The Ladies’ Wheelchair Doubles is identical to the Gentlemen’s Wheelchair Doubles, consists of two matches with the loser being eliminated and the winner advancing to the finals. The winner of the final will be crowned champion.

Annual Schedule for Wimbledon

The annual schedule, identified as the “Order of Play for Wimbledon is 14 days in length with play= commencing on a Monday and ending on a Sunday. The main events, which there are five, are held over the two week period with the first week being dedicated to Ladies Singles, Gentlemen’s Singles, Ladies Doubles and Gentlemen’s Doubles events with Quarterfinal and Semifinal play getting underway on Day 10 and 11.

Day 12 and 13 are reserved for the Ladies Doubles final, the Gentlemen’s Doubles final as well as the Ladies Single final, the Gentlemen’s Singles final. In addition to the Single and Double final matches, Day 12 sees the Wheelchair Finals, Boys Single Final, Girls Single Semi-Final, Boys Double Semi-Final, Girls Doubles Semi-Final as well as the invitational event are played over the course of the day with final matches being held of Day 13.

Wimbledon Tennis Courts

The courts at Wimbledon have always used a grass surface. Prior to 2002, this consisted of 30 percent creeping red fescue and 70 percent ryegrass however now are 100 percent perennial ryegrass. The choice to switch to perennial ryegrass was due to its durability and its ability to stand up to wear and tear.

Wimbledon’s main courts are only used for the main tournament and only see two weeks of use. It is also the only courts with a dedicated box for the Royal family and other celebrities. However, with a total of 19 courts, the other seventeen courts are used regularly for other tennis events held throughout the year. The main court sports a retractable roof, and after being reconstructed in 2017, now has seating for 12,345 spectators, while the second court, built in 2009 offers seating for 4000 spectators.

Ball Boys and Ball Girls

The ball boys and ball girls play an integral part in the success of the operation of the tournament. Since its earliest days, those they carry out those responsibilities have come from local schools with boys and girls being chosen based on merit and achievements in sports and academics. Ball Boys and Girls, who average 15 years of age, are known as BBG’s and are responsible for retrieving all balls at the conclusion of play and maintain a low profile beside the net and at the back of the court. 

Since 2005, ball boys and girls carry out their responsibilities is teams of six. This is divided with one on either side of the net and one at each corner of the court. They work in two hour intervals with one hour on-court and one hour off. They are not advised prior to working which court they will work so as to maintain the same quality of standards. The number of BBG’s needed for the tournament, since 2008, is 250 however only 80 are used on the final Sunday of the tournament. For their efforts, are awarded with a certificate, a tournament programme, a BBG’s group photograph, a can of used balls from the tournament and if completing all 13 days of the tournament, a remuneration ranging from £120-£180. 

Ticket Purchase

Tickets for Wimbledon, given the high profile of the tournament and possibility of spotting the Royals or other celebrities, are a prised possession as there are more people wanting to purchase tickets than there are tickets available. This is further increased due to the limited seating and are often difficult to get. Invitations to purchase tickets, for those who registered a “MyWimbledon” account via its official website will be sent out at the beginning of September with the ballot processing commencing in January.

Since 1924, ticket sales have been made available to the general public via a public ballot system that begins at the start of the year by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. All seats and subsequent tickets are chosen at random and tickets resultant from the ballots are non-transferrable.
The prices for tickets, considering Wimbledon’s prestige on the tennis circuit, are more than reasonable. The lower prices tickets for matches held in the No.3 court range from £44 to £87, while prices for court No.2 range from £41 to £87, and court No.1 range from £35 to £155, with those prices being dependant on specific events and days. The most expensive are reserved for Centre court with prices falling within the range of £70 to £240, again, prices are based on the tournaments schedule of events being held in each respective court. 

Prize Money

One of the most attractive features for players, beyond that of Wimbledon’s prestige, is its prize money, not only awarded to those who win but also simply for playing and advancing to the next round. This can equate to a substantial amount for those who succeed and advance to the quarter, semis and finals. 

The inclusion of prize money first began in 1968, the year that Wimbledon began letting professional players compete. The initial prize pool was a meagre £26,150 with the winner taking home £2,000, which in 1968 was a respectable sum. Since then, the amounts awarded at Wimbledon have increased significantly and in 2019 amounted to £38,000,000.

The prize pool and the subsequent distribution of it awards cash prizes for each round with the winner of the Gentlemen’s and Ladies Singles earning £2,350,000, a marginal increase over 2018’s winner, who took home £2,250,000. For a complete breakdown on the prize distribution, visit the Wimbledon’s Championship Prize Money page, which includes a detailed breakdown of the prizes award for each category. While up-to-date based on 2019, it should be noted that the amounts stated may be changed in future tournaments.