Centre Court

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Updated On :25 Feb, 2021

Full Name
Centre Court

Capacity
15,916 seats

Location
London, England, United Kingdom

Surface Type
Grass

The Wimbledon Centre Court is the main court of the three grass courts located in Wimbledon, England. It was opened in 1922 and has hosted many national and international lawn tennis events such as Wimbledon and 2012 London Olympics. It is the stampede ground of the Wimbledon Championship, the third annual Grand Slam event of the tennis calendar. The stadium is owned & maintained by All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. A retractable roof was built in 2009, enabling to continue matches during rain and in the night. Its installation started with the removal of the existing roof at the end of the 2006 championship. The new roof takes up to 10 minutes to close, during which time play is suspended. In 1982, dot matrix scoreboards were introduced by the replacement of full colour LED screens in 2008. In October 1940, the court suffered damage during an air attack in World War II when five 500 pound bombs hit the Centre Court.

Trivia

There is an inscription above the entryway that are lines from Rudyard Kipling's poem “If”.

Significance

The first full match to be played with the closed roof was between Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka.
Though the first Wimbledon Championship started in 1877, the stadium was completely built in 1922.
Its original scoreboard was installed in the 1950s which was first replaced in 1982 and then in 2008.
The original centre court roof installed in 1922 was expanded by 1 meter in 1979 to increase the capacity.
The 1992 roof replacement allowed better court view that was restricted by roof supports.
The roof was closed for the first time in 2009, during the Ladies Singles match.
In 2012, the court witnessed the first Wimbledon final to be played partially under the roof between Andy Murray and Roger Federer.