Industry Odisha Bureau, Jun 27: The oldest tennis tournament in the world as well as widely regarded as the most prestigious, the Wimbledon Championships – 2026 is slated to run from June 29 (from next Monday) to July 12 this year.
Notably, “The Wimbledon village has been hosting the oldest tennis tournament since 1877, and the postal address SW19 was designated at that time. The All-England Lawn Tennis Club was then designated the full postal code of ‘SW19 5AE’. The words ‘SW19’ have been synonymous with the ‘Wimbledon Championships’ for years as it is the abbreviated version of the venue’s postal address South West London while 19 is the postal code that designates the Wimbledon district, and thus, ‘SW19’ is the postal code for Wimbledon used as a shorthand to refer to the Wimbledon Championships.”
Reportedly, the one among the prominent newness this time is that: “The total prize money for the 2026 Championships is up 20 per cent to £64.2million – the largest-ever year-on-year increase. While the men’s and women’s singles champions will each receive £3.6m, the runners-up will collect £1.8m, and the first-round losers will take home £80,000, a 21 per cent increase compared with last year.”
Notably, “The prize money for the singles champions has increased by 80 per cent over the past decade, with first-round prize money has gone up by 160 per cent and the total prize money for qualifying has grown by 393 per cent.”
Another prominent newness this time at the ‘SW19’ is reportedly the “video reviews introduced for the first time.”
Accordingly, “Players will be able to challenge certain calls made by the chair umpire on six courts. Players can seek reviews on ‘not-up’, ‘foul shot’ or ‘touch’ either on a point-ending call, when a player immediately stops play, or immediately after the completion of a point (in the case of hindrance). There is no limit to the number of requests. The technology will be available on Centre Court and No.1 Court throughout The Championships and No.2 Court, No.3 Court, Court 12 and Court 18 until the conclusion of all singles matches on those courts.”
Also, the newness reportedly includes “Scoreboards to Show Line Call Results”.
Hence, as per international media reports, “Visual Indicators for Electronic Line Calling will be introduced on the scoreboards of all courts for all matches showing ‘out’ and ‘fault’ calls. This follows feedback from last year’s Championships and is designed to aid the spectator experience, to make it easier to follow when ‘out’ and ‘fault’ calls have been made.”
Apart from a forecited newness introduced this time at the ‘SW19’, the remarkable news is reportedly that of “return of seven-time Wimbledon Singles champion Serena Williams (44 years old now) who last appeared at Wimbledon in 2022.”
Reportedly, “Serena has been handed a wild card to play in the doubles with her sister Venus.”
