Wimbledon Says Goodbye to a Tradition

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet club parts with its traditions as easily as a middle-aged man parts with an old concert t-shirt — which is to say, it usually never happens.

Wimbledon is the oldest Grand Slam tennis tournament in the world, first played in 1877, and it is the only tournament still played on its original surface. The other three Grand Slams also began on grass but have since changed surfaces — but not Wimbledon.

In 1877 players were required to wear all-white on the courts, and that rule hasn’t changed after all these years and all of the many iterations of sports apparel that have hit the tennis world. If anything, enforcement of this traditional rule has gotten even stricter in recent years.

Each year there are 28,000 kg of strawberries and more than 7,000 liters of cream consumed. It is the traditional food of Wimbledon, with the strawberries signaling the beginning of summer, just like the return of lawn tennis. The U.S. Open features a filet mignon sandwich. At the French Open, you can get macaroons. You can find a Vegemite truck outside of Rod Laver Stadium at the Australian Open. At Wimbledon, it’s about the strawberries and cream.

Middle Sunday Tradition

Up through 2021, the middle Sunday of the fortnight at Wimbledon has been a day of rest. A day of rest for players, but most importantly, a day of rest for the grass. After a week of tennis, the health of the playing surface needs a day off in order to make it to the finals.

That is no longer the case as middle Sunday is going away in 2022, with matches scheduled all the way through the tournament.

The official word from Wimbledon is that advancements in technology mean that the day of rest is no longer needed for the grass. But 8-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer thinks there may be a different green at play.

“Look, you’ve got to love traditions, but the French Open also went to a 15-day event. Everybody wants more days. More days means more revenue, more options, more this and that. I get it.”

A Final Manic Monday

With no tennis on the middle Sunday of the tournament, Wimbledon had always made up for it with what is known as Manic Monday — even before the Bangles released their hit in 1986. All 16 fourth-round matches are played with the best 32 tennis players in the world, all competing on the same day. It makes for a day of great tennis, but with a knock-on effect. For the women who win their matches on Monday, they have to turn around and play in the quarterfinals the very next day.

This year’s Manic Monday did produce the great tennis we’re used to. Both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic advanced in straight sets, and the match involving the world’s second-ranked player Daniil Medvedev took two days to finish.

According to the sportsbook’s tennis odds, Djokovic is still the significant odds-on favorite to win at -250, followed in a distant second by Federer at +550. Curiously, Matteo Berrettini posts the only other short odds on the board at +600.

On the women’s side, American teenager Coco Gauff is out after losing to 2018 Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber. For Gauff, however, every tournament is a learning experience and another step up in confidence.

“I’m capable of competing with high-level players and players who have won Grand Slams in the past. [Going] into [the] Olympics, I’m super confident. I feel like I’m right there.”

At just 17, Gauff will be the youngest Olympian from any country since 2000, and as the No. 2 ranked American on the team, she will be playing both singles and doubles.

Another young woman breaking out in the tennis world, but another one who saw her Cinderella run end on Manic Monday is British teenager Emma Raducanu. Her 2021 Wimbledon came to an end after she was forced to retire because of stomach cramps and difficulty breathing.

Commentator John McEnroe speculated on television that the importance of the moment and the stress of playing in the fourth round got to be too much for Raducanu. That, however, angered Raducanu’s opponent Ajla Tomljanovic, who called the comments from McEnroe “harsh.”

She added, “I can’t imagine being in her shoes at 18 playing a fourth round in your home country. It’s something I can’t even imagine.”

Raducanu is ranked 338th in the world, and her wins over Marketa Vondrousova and Sorana Cirstea were her first ever matches against top-100 players.