A look at Wimbledon, the year’s third Grand Slam tennis tournament: SURFACE Grass courts.
SITE The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club SCHEDULE Play begins Monday. The women’s singles final is July 7; the men’s singles final is July 8. There are no matches scheduled for the two-week tournament’s middle Sunday, July 1.
2011 MEN’S SINGLES CHAMPION Novak Djokovic of Serbia 2011 WOMEN’S SINGLES CHAMPION Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic LAST YEAR Djokovic won his first Wimbledon title by beating defending champion Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the final, then celebrated by eating some blades of Centre Court grass. Djokovic’s run at the All England Club began a 27-match Grand Slam winning streak and earned him the No. 1 ranking. Kvitova took home her first major title by upsetting 2004 champion Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4 in the women’s final.
KEY STATISTIC 9 - Consecutive Grand Slam titles won by either Djokovic or Nadal.
ONE MORE TIME Kim Clijsters says she will play at Wimbledon for the last time, even though she pulled out of a grass-court tuneup tournament Friday, citing a stomach muscle injury. That was her first event after about three months away because of other injuries. The Belgian says she’ll retire after the U.S. Open in September.
WHEN IT RAINS As of 2009, Centre Court is fitted with a retractable roof, which allows matches to be played during wet weather - which could come in handy, given that the forecast calls for rain several days next week.
PRIZE MONEY Total is 16.1 million pounds (about $25 million), with 1.15 million pounds (about $1.8 million) each to the men’s and women’s singles champions.
NEW TV ESPN starts a 12-year U.S. TV rights deal with Wimbledon and will have live coverage every day of the tournament on ESPN/ESPN2. ABC will re-air some matches on tape delay, but there will be no live action not on cable.
Sports, Pages 27 on 06/24/2012