It’s time for Wimbledon!

It’s time for Wimbledon! It starts today (Monday) so I’ll be an early riser for the next 2 weeks! (they are 5 hours ahead of us!)

Do you remember who won in 2017? Roger Federer (Switzerland) defeated Marin Clilic (Croatia) and Garbine Muguruza (Spain) defeated Venus Williams (U.S.)

The All England Club will award a total of £34m (over $44 million) in prize money to the competitors.The Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ Singles Champions will each receive £2.25m (almost $3 million).

Did you know…

Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world? First championship took place in 1877! There were only 200 spectators at the first Wimbledon tournament and tickets were sold for one shilling each for the final match.

At the 2013 Wimbledon, Roger Federer was told to switch his shoes for his next match because the shoes had orange soles.

54,250 tennis balls are used at Wimbledon. White balls were replaced in 1976 so they would be more visible on TV.

(You probably already know this one!) Longest match was in 2010 when John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut in a match that lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes and played over the course of 3 days.

Most singles wins (male): Roger Federer with 8.

Most singles wins (female): Martina Navratilova with 9 (she’s also the OLDEST winner – won the mixed doubles in 2003 at 46 years, 261 days old).

Youngest winner: In 1996, Martina Hingis won the doubles title at 15 years, 282 days old.

Fastest serve at Wimbledon: In 2010 American player Taylor Dent against Novak Djokovic – speed of serve was 148 mph!

Approximately 112,000 punnets (a small basket or other container for fruit) of strawberries will be consumed.

Rufus the hawk circles the skies over Wimbledon every morning to keep the pigeons away! He has his own Twitter account with over 8,000 followers!

In 1995, Tim Henman was the first ever person to be disqualified from Wimbledon. He lost his temper during a doubles match and smashed a ball in frustration which hit a ball girl in the face.