Centre Court

Centre Court stands at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London. It is the main court for the Wimbledon Championships, the third Grand Slam tournament of the year. The court sits within the club’s grounds and shares its site with the clubhouse. Centre Court is the world’s most famous tennis court and hosts only two weeks of play each year. It has a Royal Box for the British royal family and distinguished guests. The stadium is the sixth largest tennis-specific venue by capacity and once hosted Olympic tennis in 2012. Centre Court is worth the journey for its history and scale. The name dates back to 1881 when the principal court was placed at the centre of twelve courts arranged in a grid. After moving to Church Road in 1922 the name stayed, though the layout no longer matched it until 1980. The court survived bomb damage in 1940, losing 1,200 seats, and was fully repaired by 1949. A retractable roof was added in 2009, allowing play to continue through rain and into the evening. The roof weighs 3,000 tonnes and covers 5,200 square metres. Visitors find a grand stadium with steep stands rising around a grass court. The Royal Box overlooks the action from one side, while large LED scoreboards show every point. Above the entrance hangs Kipling’s lines about triumph and disaster. The longest match on Centre Court lasted four hours and forty-eight minutes, a 2008 final between Nadal and Federer. Floodlights and the roof now let play run late into the night when needed.