This week & the next are all about the Champions, Wimbledon or simply Wimbledon. It’s the most prestigious tennis tournament in the calendar, held at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club located in the London suburb of Wimbledon ever since 1877. For professional tennis players this is the Stanley Cup, FIFA World Cup or Superbowl put together. Winning a single title here ensures your name in the history books in more ways than one and also get you a lifetime membership at the club.
The singles trophies, pictures here on the left, are beautiful & amongst the top 5 most prestigious trophies to win, certainly the most prestigious for an individual sport. The men’s trophy is easily the most handsomest trophy of all. It’s just so well made. Each year the winners get a smaller scale replica of the trophies for theirs to keep.
The first time I came to know about Wimbledon was during the 1987 championships. I remember watching Pat Cash winning the final and climbing the stands to hug his wife & family, leave a lasting impression on my 11 year old mind. My favourite players were Stefan Edberg, Mats Wilander, Steffi Graf & Martina Navratilova. Ever since then watching the 2 week tournament was a yearly tradition for me till 1998. That year, I rediscovered football with a flaming passion and lost most of my interest in tennis as a sport. The last Wimbledon that I actually watched more than just bits of the final was in 2001, when veteran Goran Ivanisevic won his first and only Grand Slam title. I’ve watched bits of Roger Fedderer’s wins and maybe a set of Rafal Nadal win last year but that has been it.
I’ll probably never get into tennis as much as I used to but Wimbledon continues to always be magical for me. Maybe I’ll watch the finals this year.