Wimbledon fever is on high gear and the grass is trimmed and set.
Time to brush up your tennis I.Q. and we’ve put together some trivia and facts about Wimbledon that, um… may have nothing to do with the game. But these are swell things to know should you happen to be dating a tennis fan or your friends make fun of your diminished tennis I.Q., much less Wimbledon, because of too much Spurs or Miami between your ears.
For starters, you can claim to be following the trends
Rafael Nadal will just have to get used to softer grounds to continue his winning streak fresh from the French Open. Wimbledon, he knows is different, even his father was quoted hoping he plays well there in the face of the much grass-rooted Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and long-time rival Roger Federer.
The grass affects the ball’s bounce, the pivot of the foot, the softer ground and its unpredictable leveling creates a miniscule difference in ball direction that can cost a set or the cup itself. These facts will about set your authority on Wimbledon matters.
But before the talk heats up to the details of each player’s performance, and what’s happening in the ladies’ department, time to segue to these six trivia as a diversion to the actual game.
1. Federer beats Nadal in income, but they both lose
Ever wonder why we don’t hear much about tennis players’ splurging on scandalous luxuries like a 50-footer yacht or a private jet?
Federer earns almost thrice as much as Nadal as of June this year, according to Forbes. Nadal’s $26.4M pales in comparison with Federer’s $71.5M. Both earnings combine salary, winnings and endorsements, the last comprising more than 80% of both men’s total take home.
But in prize money, tennis lags behind other big sports by a mile.
Endorsements aside, Federer has “only” won $6.5M, while Nadal, $5.4M. Even if they combine their winnings, football star Aaron Rogers still earns more than thrice as much: he is paid $43M. Manny Pacquiao earns twice as much with $25M earnings less endorsements, and Tiger Woods’ winnings at $13.1M is slightly more than the tennis stars’ combined winnings.
This year’s prize money is about $2.5M for the men’s singles. Fancy, it was $5,000 back in 1968.
Still, you wonder about the poor low-ranked guy at the early rounds and you may be right, he can be poor. Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, seeded at 117 and a vocal critic for higher pay in professional tennis, once said in an interview that many lower-ranked players could be spending more than collecting money during the tours.
It seems in tennis, it pays to lose.
But to Wimbledon’s credit, the current increase in total prize money is allocated to players losing at the early rounds to make up for the plane or bus ticket, perhaps.
2. Equal pay for men and women isn’t equal
Here’s to get your date’s attention if she is not yet impressed with your tennis bank of facts. Should women be paid equally in Wimbledon?
Until 2007, the prize money for women in Wimbledon was lower. The biggest disparity, in fact, was in 1968, when men earned around two and a half times more.
The clamor for equal pay reached its peak when major sponsors like Sony Ericsson pressured the tennis world to take a positive step in light of income equality issues across world. Wimbledon relented. For seven years now, both men and women have been paid equally.
Or so we thought. In tennis it seems equal pay is not equal work.
Some argue that men should be paid more since they play in best-of-five sets compared to women who play at best-of-three. More sets mean more work for men. Technically, men get paid lower at an hourly rate.
Is that equal pay? Ask your date and be prepared for a litany of inequality in corporate America, which is an ocean away in geography and relevance, really.
3. Wimbledon displays provocative class inequality
If you’re a royal, a member of the super exclusive club All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club which runs Wimbledon, a celebrity or VIP, you get a shot to watch the Wimbledon in style and comfort at Centre Court and Courts 1 or 2, where the major matches are played. All while enjoying your strawberries and tea, a British Empire break time holdover.
Wimbledon also allows “commoners” with money to join the elite audience through debentures. These are bond-like certificates but without the interest issued to buyers at about $43,000. The debenture is sold separately for the Centre Court and Court 1 and entitles the holder one seat every day of the Wimbledon championships for five years.
It seems in tennis, you can buy seats five years in advance.
But not quite, because debentures are sold like IPOs; you have to have an inside foot on when the certificates will be issued to get one among the limited offerings.
Meantime, you and I can stand on the outside courts. If we’re lucky. You can join in a ballot system months before where you have a 1 in 4 chance of getting a seat. Or you can do as the British do: queue. Either way, good luck and curtsy to the royals should they pass by.
4. All players help UK gets back its Wimbledon footing
Indirectly, that is, because proceeds from Wimbledon go to the Lawn Tennis Association, the governing body tasked to improve British tennis.
The thing is, Wimbledon may be all British—the queue, tea breaks, prim dress code, proper conduct in a public place, the royal box, and the strawberries—but no British has won the cup since Fred Parry in 1936 and no woman since Virginia Wade in 1977.
It seems in tennis, home court advantage has no meaning.
But then comes along Andy Murray, the great Britain hope with all pun intended. He is Scottish, but British enough to create an Andy mania that sends Wimbledon tickets to stratospheric levels.
The no. 2-seeded British player is fresh from winning the Queen’s Club title. But it’s the local crowd that can make a difference. “It bothered and annoyed Federer,” John McEnroe remembers how the people rallied behind Murray in the Olympics. That’s more than seventy years of Wimbledon drought likely to set fire on bone-dried grass.
5. You can play Wimbledon like stocks
Without the purple blood or celebrity status, you can still project elitism by buying Wimbledon debentures. They’re pricey, yes, but unlike the royals, you see money to create money. You can resell your daily ticket allowance for a profit.
Debentures are sold for the Centre Court and Court 1, where the major matches are played and the demand for tickets are highest. The bonds are limited and you get to buy this bond over a five-year period. The latest issue was the 1,000 debentures for Court 1 issued in 2011 and covering the 2012-2016 seasons.
Consider the Andy mania this Wimbledon, tickets are trading 2,950 pounds apiece in the major courts two weeks before the opening. That’s a 237% increase in ticket prices. All because of a possible historical specter, that is, a British actually winning the Wimbledon.
Murray aside, the clear winners are the debenture holders this season.
6. Wimbledon is just a for-profit private tennis club
While the other three Majors—the U.S. Open, French Open and Australian Open—are run by the governing tennis bodies of their countries, Wimbledon is run by one lucky members-only private club: the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC).
Three years after the American civil war, a group of really rich people decided to set up a club in Wimbledon, a wealthy district in London, at the height of croquet mania. Run like your country club, with all the elitism of a few privileged behind the walls of the clubhouse and door of the cigar room and the occasional notice of membership arrears, AELTC essentially was overshadowed by its annual tennis event we now call Wimbledon, as more competitive tennis players wanted in.
If you feel an uneasy code of ethic and house rules in Wimbledon—such as, tennis wear must be predominantly white or rallying shouts are not encouraged or clap at a certain number of times, tops—that’s the club snobbery rubbing on you and you just have to embrace it. Besides, strawberries in ice cream, they are a real treat.
Maybe it’s a god-save-the-Queen thing, but today, proceeds from Wimbledon go to the Lawn Tennis Association, which co-owns the Wimbledon facilities and venue with AELTC under a separate company. The association is the governing body that sees to it that British tennis improves, like winning a Wimbledon.
CONCLUSION
Congratulations, you’re now tennis savvy in a weird way. Now about how the sports is played, two persons stand opposite to each other behind a really long net holding an object called a racket… or just google the whole mechanics for Pete Sampras’sake.
WHO DO YOU THINK WILL WIN THIS YEAR’S WIMBLEDON?
OUR BET IS NOT MURRAY, SORRY.
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