Impacts of Britain law on the organization of the Wimbledon championship
Wimbledon, also known as the championships, is the most prestigious and the oldest tennis tournament globally. It was first held at the “All England Club” in Wimbledon since the year 1877. The contest is played on a grass court as a tradition. However, the tournament has been held in a Centre Court with a retractable roof since 2009. Wimbledon is among the top four and the most fantastic tennis tournaments, the other three being the French Open, Australian Open, and the Us Open. It is the only left big tournament still being played on a grass court after the Australian Open was shifted to a hard court in the year 1988.
The tournament took place in two weeks, beginning in the last week of June and ending in the first week of July. Nevertheless, some changes on the tournament calendar were made, moving the tournament forward by a week, so that it begins in early July. The Wimbledon traditions entail a stringent all-white code of dressing for all competitors and royal patronage. Besides, cream and strawberries are consumed at the tournament as a tradition.
As the only Grand slam held on a grass surface, Wimbledon throws up surprise results rendering the rankings meaningless. Besides, the sporting event has been very intertwined with the law. Some suggestions of how the sporting event has been linked to the rule are discussed below;
In the year 2017, Wimbledon Championships faced a problem of ticket touting. The issue of ticket touting arose in the case of All England Tennis Club v Miller. The people who were organizing the event ensured that all the tickets to the event are non-transferable in a bid to limit and stop ticket touting while ensuring that only those who paid fair prices attended the event.
After finding out about Miller’s activities of ticket touting, the All England Tennis Club found a measure to stop him from continuing with the fraudulent activity. The courts ordered him to give back all the tickets and divulge the details of the people who bought his tickets, failure to which he would be serving for a four-month suspended sentence. The Dicta from the judges gave him four options;
- Take no action
- Impose fines
- Suspended Sentence
- Custodial sentence
In the year 2017, the world’s number one tennis champion Serena Williams announced her pregnancy news and that she would suspend her games for the rest of the year. During her absence, she slipped down in ranks inevitably up to 283rd in this year 2019. However, on her return to the tour, notably the All England Tennis Club, the decision to rank her 25th arose many questions on how women players who return from maternity are treated in sports.
The organizers of the Wimbledon event argued that the 7-time champion had earned a right to seeding from her past rankings and performance. Even though many will say in William’s favour, there are specific laws and considerations which point out this act to be unfair and very reckless to some point.
Tennis is a captivating and a thrilling sport with many laws involved. The critical discussion is on whether these tennis laws should be strengthened and if it is okay for Wimbledon to deviate from its old culture and come up with new rules to supplement the old ones.