Wimbledon – the basics

The Wimbledon Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely recognized as the most prestigious one. Its venue has not been changed since 1877 and is at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London. It is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments along with Australian Open, French Open and the US Open and the only one that is still played on grass.

The tournament is held over two weeks in late June and early July climaxing with Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Singles Finals taking place on the final two days. Interesting details surrounding the championships include the lack of sponsor advertising around the courts, a strict dress code for the contestants and Royal patronage. The Wimbledon Finals are obliged to be shown on national terrestrial BBC television by government mandate. The tournament itself is made up from several sub-tournaments including men’s and women’s doubles and singles, junior events and invitational events played out across eighteen grass courts.

Continuous popularity

Wimbledon is one of the most watched sports events with almost half a million attendees, 13 million home viewers and opportunities to bet and collect winning money at the bookies. In order to attract more spectators and reduce the risk of postponing games due to rain, a retractable roof was installed over the Centre Court in 2009. Wimbledon, since it was first televised in 1937 by its host broadcaster - BBC (and with the 1967 first ever color broadcast in Britain) has become one of the biggest broadcasting operations in the world with over 80 broadcast organizations, 40 other international networks, 2500 broadcasters and nearly 100 cameras on site.

The coverage

The Wimbledon Championships are broadcast by numerous radio and television stations. Radio Wimbledon working on RSL license is heard within a five-mile radius over an FM frequency as well as online. As far as television coverage is concerned, BBC has been broadcasting the tournament since 1937. Except for BBC (which, for the first time, will be providing live coverage of the qualifying matches), numerous channels cover the event either live or as taped broadcasts. With the dawn of streaming, live coverage is no longer an issue as it can be watched virtually all over the world using multiple devices. Such networks as ESPN, beIN SPORTS, Fox Sports, Eurosport or The Tennis Channel supply live streaming of the matches.

How to watch?

There are many ways to watch the Wimbledon Championships live. There are numerous cable networks across the world that bought the rights to cover the event. There are also many online platforms that stream live matches. Some of them are geo-blocked (i.e. they are available only for certain countries, areas or regions) so if you want to be sure that you will be able to watch your favorite matches wherever you are, you should think about choosing a service that will give you access to geo-located services. Smart DNS Proxy supports more than 300 channels worldwide many of which are dedicated to sports events.

If you do not have an account with us, simply sign up for a free trial, gain access to your favorite sports channel and enjoy live coverage of Wimbledon matches (and many other attractive sports events around the world).