Camila Vega
This intervening Sunday marked the 100th anniversary of Centre Court at Wimbledon. This court has witnessed a century of victories in the most important tournament in the history of tennis. Below, we tell you how this nostalgic event went.
During the day, of course, Centre Court had some incredible matches, as usual. Three fourth round matches were played for both women and men. First, Germany’s Niemeier defeated Great Britain’s Heather Watson in straight sets. Then, Jannik Sinner overcame Carlos Alcaraz in four sets and, finally, Djokovic ended the hopes of the Dutchman van Rijthoven and was able to win one set of the match.
How Was the Celebration of 100 Years of Center Court at Wimbledon?
For starters, the Centre Court was built in just nine months and, as the tournament calls it, it is an engineering marvel. For the event, the singles’ tournament winners of the last century were invited and honored. Additionally, more than 1,500 refugees were invited to the event, as it is said to be a day for the community.
Separately, in the celebration of 100 years of Centre Court, Wimbledon’s Twitter account adopted the hashtag #CentreCourt100 to track the celebration. Among the winners were John McEnroe, Billie Jean King, Björn Borg, Venus Williams, Rod Laver, Simona Halep, Novak Djokovic, Martina Hingis, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, among others.
The celebration began with a historical tour with photographs of Centre Court, then, past champions were paid tribute by inviting them onto the court and the greatest male champion, Federer, was given a standing ovation at his entrance.
Initially, Billie Jean King spoke about Martina Navratilova, who won the tournament 9 times; Djokovic followed by reminiscing about his early days and Roger finished with a heartfelt speech about his tennis career and how he hopes to return once again to the beautiful Centre Court.
Finally, Freya Ridings, the English singer-songwriter, sang her ballad Lost Without You. This song was a hit in the UK in 2017 and was an excellent choice for this tribute.
This was the celebration for the 100th anniversary of the most important stage of Tennis and its champions of the last century. Fortunately, if you missed it, it was recorded, and you can watch the replay here:
