As Wimbledon Celebrates 100 Years at Centre Court, the Race Remains Wide Open

Today at Wimbledon, all eyes were on Centre Court—although not for the usual reasons. The world’s oldest tennis tournament may date back to 1877, but this year marks the 100th anniversary of its current premises on Church Road, in the suburb of southwest London that plays host to the championships, and thus the centenary of Centre Court itself. To mark the occasion, there were fireworks, musical performances from Cliff Richard and singer-songwriter Freya Ridings, and 1,500 refugees from countries including Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Syria in attendance.

Also making their way onto Centre Court was a starry lineup of tennis legends past and present, all of whom have dominated the courts at Wimbledon at one time or other, including Billie Jean King, Andy Murray, Margaret Court, Venus Williams, Martina Hingis, Bjorn Borg, and Rod Laver. Martina Navratilova, who holds the record for the most Wimbledon singles titles in history with nine wins, had flown over from her home in Florida to attend the event but was forced to pull out at the last minute after testing positive for COVID this morning.