Why is Wimbledon Championships Called SW19?

The oldest tennis tournament in the world is held at Wimbledon, which is a district in the Borough of Merton, and that is a part of the South Western region of the United Kingdom’s capital, London. To the world outside, ‘Wimbledon’ is synonymous to tennis. From there the grass-court major tournament derives its name, Wimbledon Championships.

Besides the regular norms, the tennis world often refers to the British Grand Slam as SW19. The London SW postcode area is a group of postcode districts covering part of southwest London. The group of postcode districts in that region comprises of Southern Western (SW1 – SW10) and Battersea (SW11 – SW20) districts.

The location of Wimbledon Championships is at the Battersea district and the postcode for Wimbledon is 19. Hence the Wimbledon Championships get the tag of SW19. Usually, the tennis world also refers to the Centre Court of Wimbledon as SW19 and the name ‘SW19’ simply corresponds to the postcode of All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

The main show courts at Wimbledon Championships are the Centre Court and Court Number 1. All part from them, there are 17 other courts where the tennis action takes place. The Centre Court and Court Number 1 are used just two weeks a year, which is during the Wimbledon Championships and in case of an inevitable situation if the tournament gets extend into the third week the show courts are used.

The rest of the courts are used for other events hosted by the Club. And during the 2012 London Olympics, the show courts were used and the home ties of Great Britain in Davis Cup are also held on the show courts.

The Wimbledon Championships 2019 will be the 133rd edition of the tournament with Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal being the top three seeds in the gentlemen’s draw. The ladies’ counterpart Ashleigh Barty, Naomi Osaka, and Karolina Pliskova occupy the first three spots.

The Wimbledon Championships 2019 will be on air from 1st of July.