★ The Championships, Wimbledon

01Why it matters

Wimbledon is the oldest tournament in the sport and the only major still played on grass, which has made it tennis's fixed point rather than merely its most famous stop. It is also the one Slam inside a wider social calendar, sitting between Royal Ascot and Henley. In our reading its authority comes from restraint: no advertising boards, players in white, a Grounds Pass an ordinary visitor can afford, and a club that refused the commercial changes the other Slams made decades ago.

02The week around it

Southwest London reorganizes itself for a fortnight. The stations run stewarded one-way systems, the residential grid goes to permit-only parking, and Wimbledon Village becomes an outdoor drinking terrace from mid-afternoon.

Central London adds hotel-bar screens and long lunches, and the fortnight overlaps the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, the start of Henley and the British Grand Prix.

03When to arrive

Come for the first week: a Grounds Pass on the opening Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday delivers more matches and shorter queues than any day in week two. The second Thursday to Sunday is the concentrated social end, worth extra nights only with show-court tickets.

04Where to stay

There is little accommodation in SW19, so the choice is the Village or central London. Wimbledon Village is a short walk uphill and puts you inside the fortnight's own social life, but its few small hotels and short-let houses go months ahead. Most visitors stay centrally and commute, from Mayfair and St James's or from South Kensington for a shorter run to Waterloo.

05Access and hospitality

The club publishes four routes in. The Public Ballot, run since 1924 and now online through a registered account, allocates most show-court seats at face value; applicants are drawn at random and offered a specific day and court rather than choosing one, and tickets are digital and non-transferable. The Queue sells a limited allocation of Centre, No. 1 and No. 2 Court tickets plus several thousand Grounds Passes each morning to people who have queued in Wimbledon Park, with numbered queue cards issued on arrival and overnight camping permitted for the show-court allocation. Returned show-court tickets are resold inside the grounds each afternoon at a low fixed price for the Wimbledon Foundation. Finally, Centre Court and No. 1 Court debentures, issued in five-year cycles since 1920, carry a seat for every day of the cycle and are the only Wimbledon tickets that may lawfully be resold, which is what sustains the legitimate secondary market.

06Where the social activity happens

The Village is the centre of gravity: the pubs and restaurants along the high street, the Common at the top of the hill, and the hotel terraces, all open to anyone who can get a table. On the grounds, the public social space is Aorangi Terrace and the concessions behind No. 1 Court. Almost everything closed-door happens in leased private houses; the streets stay walkable.

07Getting there

08Practicalities

09History

The All England Croquet Club added lawn tennis in 1875 and ran its first Championships in 1877 off Worple Road. Women's singles arrived in 1884, the club moved to Church Road in 1922, and the public ballot began in 1924. Debentures, first issued in 1920 and now sold in five-year cycles, have paid for most of the club's building since, including the new No. 1 Court and the Centre Court roof. Permission to expand into neighbouring Wimbledon Park was granted in September 2024 and then contested in the courts.

10Who is there

Ballot winners and queuers who bought the same access as everyone else, debenture holders and their guests, corporate hospitality tables, the tennis trade, and a large American, Australian and continental European contingent.