Wimbledon by Numbers: Your B&M Guide to This Year’s Tennis

The ball boys are in position and Centre Court’s retractable roof on standby. On Monday 27^th June The Championships Wimbledon will begin at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, with the likes of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Garbine Muguruza all gunning for glory.

But how much do you really know about Wimbledon? You might know that world No1 Djokovic has a 32% return games won record. But do you know how many strawberries will be consumed this summer? How about the number of balls used? Who is the youngest ever Wimbledon champion? We serve up the answers below…

£2.50

It seems there are two vital ingredients to a typical British summer tennis tournament: rain and strawberries! And this is what it will cost you to enjoy the classic Wimbledon staple of strawberries and cream. An estimated 28,000kg of strawberries is expected to be consumed this year, and £2.50 will fetch you a punnet of at least 10 berries plus cream. The rain is free of course...

As for tea? Well you can’t stop the habit of a lifetime. Come rain or shine, thirsty visitors sipped 330,000 cups of tea and coffee in 2015. That makes it a more popular beverage than bottled water (230,000) as well as Wimbledon’s most famous alcoholic tipple - Pimm’s sold 320,000 glasses last year. It seems that in the battle between refreshingly cold, fruity alcohol and the classic British brew, tea will always triumph.

15 years, 282 days

There’s a saying in sport that “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough”. Just 83 days short of her sixteenth birthday, Martina Hingis proved that she was more than good enough. The Swiss triumphed in the 1996 Ladies’ Doubles to become the youngest Wimbledon champion. 20 years on, Miss Hingis is still competing at the top of the game, currently ranked No1 in doubles.

46 years, 261 days

Proof age really is just a number. In 2003 Martina Navratilova took the Mixed Doubles by storm with her partner Leander Paes, becoming Wimbledon’s oldest champion. She surpassed Gardnar Putnam Mulloy’s record of 43 years and 226 days set in 1957 (Men’s Doubles). You go girl!

139

That’s the number of years the nation has been hooked by the world’s oldest international tennis tournament. The first championship took place in 1877 and was won by the Brit Spencer Gore.

12,400

Roughly the number of people that will be packed into a (hopefully) sunny Centre Court for the Men’s Singles Final on 10^th July. The capacity of the world famous home of British tennis has actually increased since last year, with an extra 900 seats added. They’re also bigger and comfier now too, if you can get your hands on a ticket. But don’t worry if you can’t, the views from Henman Hill are excellent!

54,250

Ever wondered exactly how many balls they get through? Approximately 54,250 tennis balls are served during the Championships. Those ball boys and girls really have their work cut out, so it’s just as well there’ll be 250 of them!

£2 million

128 players will serve for the chance to win the famous tournament but only one man and one woman can claim top spot on 10^th July. Whoever clinches Championship Point will pocket a generous £2 million, up on last year’s £1.88m. Imagine the bargains to be had at B&M with that!

As if that wasn’t enough, £28.1 million will be handed out in prize money throughout the two week tournament, almost double what it was in 2011 (£14.6m).

9.2 million

At its most climactic, Wimbledon attracted a peak audience of 9.2m viewers last year. The Men’s Singles final saw double the amount of people tune in than watched the Women’s Singles final (4.3m peak) however this was lower than the last two years (10m in 2014, 17.7m in 2013).

Will you be tuning in this year? You’d expect the numbers to reach the record highs of 2013, as long as Murray makes it to the final as he did three years ago. C’mon Tim! Er, I mean Andy!

Got the next Murray or Williams running around in your garden? Don’t forget B&M have loads of great tennis gear and outdoor toys online and in-store, available at ace prices!