How Wimbledon has evolved over the course of its 145-year history

From the rules to the quality of grass, while some traditions stayed the same, here are a few elements that have been revised over the years. 

Tie break rules changed this year.

While before, the players went through long and tedious tie breaks, the new tie break rules have drastically reduced the time spent on it this year. The longest Wimbledon match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut in Wimbledon history lasted eleven hours and five minutes, spread across three days. The new tie-break rules require the players to compete for 10 points after the deciding set, 6-6. This new rule was first implemented in Serena Williams' match with Harmony Tan, where Tan won the tiebreaker. 

The all-white dress code for players

Wimbledon has a stringent all-white dress code for all players, which many contenders have controversially broken over the years. The classic incident of Anne White wearing a spandex white allover with matching white leg warmers was one incident where the dress code was broken. Recently, Nick Kyrgios wore red shoes and a red hat that surrounded him with controversy once more. While most players respect the all-white tradition, some have deliberately or mistakenly broken it several times. 

The tournament has only been cancelled twice in 100 years.

This prestigious grand slam tournament was only cancelled twice in its long history of 145 years. It was cancelled for the first time during the second world war and the second time in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the period infamously known as the great lockdown. 

Men's and women's singles Wimbledon champions

Before the inception of the open era, the champion with the highest number of women's singles titles was America's, Helen Wills. In the open period, Martina Navratilova holds the record for the highest number of women's singles titles, with nine titles in her name. In the men's singles category, Roger Federer now holds eight titles in the Open Era, as William Renshaw had seven titles before the Open Era. 

Wimbledon prize money

Wimbledon prize money for the winners has drastically grown over the years. The tradition of winning money only began in 1968 when the winner of men's singles won 2000 pounds sterling, and the women's singles winner got prize money of 750 pounds sterling. The prize money for both categories has gone as high as 20,00,000 pounds sterling. 

Wimbledon court grass 

While the grass of the Wimbledon courts was made of 100% ryegrass, this was changed to a blend of 70% ryegrass and 30% creeping red fescue in 2001. With the change in the grass, many old grass court techniques like serve and volley lost their dominance. By 2008, only 5-10% of the players were seen using the technique while most players shifted to newer techniques, with most tournaments being played on clay courts and even Wimbledon courts offering higher bounce.