The oldest tournament in tennis history, the Wimbledon, Championships came to the end of its 2022 season, on Sunday. This year the tournament received a record-breaking 515,164 attendees. The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) reported this figure on Wednesday.
The increase in its overall attendance was the result of an extra day of play. This year there was an extension from the usual 13 days to an extra 14th day of play. This extra day of play happened in the middle of Sunday.
Previously the highest recorded attendance was back in the 2009 event. The total tally in 2009 was 511,043, around 3000 less than the new record.
While the Grand Slam tournament brought in the highest number of spectators in the event’s 145-year history, the number of ground pass sales were lesser.
AELTC chief executive Sally Bolton told the Telegraph that the were two contrasting versions to this record. While the attendance was the highest ever, the sales of the ground passes was lesser than the previous year.
“The sales of the ground ticket usually happens from lunchtime onwards, The world has changed. All of our behaviours have changed.”
“For many years the challenge was with excessive numbers of people joining the queue and being able to accommodate them in the park. We have this delicate balance of promoting the queue but not finding ourselves where we are turning people away.”
Now, AELTC said plans are to accelerate the collaboration and explore a few opportunities between all the major tournaments that happen in a calendar year. The new aim is to increase the appeal of the sport. This might include critical projects, where improving the player and media experiences should be given more time.
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