40 miles of racket strings, 55,000 balls and 2.5 million strawberries: Wimbledon by the numbers
How many strawberries are consumed, how many petunias purchased and just how much racket string is required at the world’s oldest tennis championships? Lotte Brundle serves up the numbers.
Tennis fans rejoice! Grab your tennis whites, pop the champers and prepare your gut for a diet made up exclusively of strawberries, cream, bubbles and Pimms. Wimbledon is back. The Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world — and the most famous. It’s been held most years since 1877 and this year’s competition runs until July 13, at the All England Club in London. If Wimbledon’s own predictions come true then Jack Draper, the World Number Four seed and Britain’s Number One player, will face off against Novak Djokovic, a seven time champion, in the quarter-finals.
Those are some of the numbers floating around on the court, but what about off it? Here at Country Life, our Wimbledon-themed curiosity has reached break point: How many glasses of Pimms are consumed at the annual event? How about litres of cream? And, just how many tennis balls does it take to run the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world?
Here is everything we think you need to know — in numerical form.
3↓
How many days it took John Isner — in 11 hours and 5 minutes — to defeat Nicolas Mahut in a first-round match
7↓
The number of years since records began in 1922 that it has not rained at Wimbledon (1931, 1976, 1977, 1993, 1995, 2009, 2010)
8↓
The number in precise millimetres that the grass on each court must be
15↓
Lottie Dod’s age when she became the youngest ever winner of the Ladie’s Singles title, in 1887, gaining her the nickname, ‘The Little Wonder’
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
17↓
Boris Becker’s age when he became the youngest ever winner of the Gentleman’s Singles title
18↓
Match courts
20↓
Practice courts
20↓
Onsite gardeners tasked with keeping the shrubbery looking ace
40↓
The number of miles of racket string strung
40↓
Physiotherapists to help the players recuperate
41↓
The age that Arthur Gore was when he won the Gentleman’s Single’s title in 1909 — making him the oldest ever winner
47↓
The number of years that Rolex have been involved as the Championship's official timekeeper
123↓
The number of balls that Isner and Mahut used in their famously long, three-day match
138↓
Their match featured five sets, including a 138-point fifth set
153↓
The speed in mph of the fastest-ever serve at Wimbledon, by Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, yesterday.
204↓
The most aces played in one Championship (Isner in 2018)
280↓
The number of ball boys and girls
300↓
The number of chefs required to feed the thousands of visitors
370 vs 2,000↓
The number of people who work on Wimbledon full-time versus seasonally
More than 7,000↓
Litres of cream poured liberally over strawberries
14,979↓
Centre Court seats (pictured in 1937)
26,455 ↓
The number of people who attended the 2024 Championships
28,000↓
The number of plants brought in to decorate the 2025 Wimbledon ground, including 5,000 hydrangeas and 12,000 petunias
55,000↓
Yellow tennis balls
300,000↓
The total glasses of Pimms served each year
Hollywood actress Zendaya (Challengers) picked up a cup of Pimm's when she attended in 2024.
2.5 million↓
Individual strawberries consumed every year
7.5 million↓
TV viewers who tuned in to watch Carlos Alcarez beat Djokovic, live, in 2024’s men’s final
Lotte is Country Life's digital writer. Before joining in 2025, she was checking commas and writing news headlines for The Times and The Sunday Times as a sub-editor. She has written for The Times, New Statesman, The Fence and Spectator World. She pens Country Life Online's arts and culture interview series, Consuming Passions.
-
‘For several days between Christmas and New Year, the departures lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5 becomes busier than Daylesford HQ’: A snob’s guide to winter sunAnyone in their right mind abandons ship after Christmas for some winter sun, says Sophia Money-Coutts
-
McLaren's three Ellas and the future of motorsportMcLaren is rewiring the pipeline for women, on track and across the motorsport landscape
-
'It is hard to beat the excitement of watching a peregrine you have trained stoop from 1,000ft, going more than 100mph' — the complicated world of falconryA combination of spellbinding sport and profound empathetic connection, falconry–a partnership in which the bird maintains the upper hand–offers a window into ‘the deeper magic’.
-
What is everyone talking about this week: More than half the country owns a pet and nearly half our marriages end in divorce — no wonder pet-nups are on the risePet-nups, a formal agreement between couples over what should happen to their pets in the event of a split, are on the rise.
-
Haute dogs: How fashion’s finest would dress 11 dogs and one very spoilt cat if only they had the chanceWe’ve matched some much-loved breeds to the designers that share their history, temperament and vibe — because why not. Illustrations by Tug Rice.
-
Baby, it’s cold outside (even if you have a natural fur coat): How our animals brave the winter chillWhen the temperature drops, how do Britain’s birds, beasts and plants keep the cold at bay? John Lewis-Stempel reveals Nature’s own thermals.
-
Yorkshire’s bravest and most charming gentleman — the Airedale terrierBred on Yorkshire’s riverbanks to face otters, snakes and even enemy fire, the Airedale has gone from the trenches of war to the hearts and homes of presidents and movie stars.
-
Dangerous beasts (and where to find them): Britain's animals that are best left aloneJohn Lewis-Stempel provides a miscellany of our otherwise benign land’s more fearsome critters.
-
A true gent lets his hair down on a Wednesday: Inside our Savile Row party to celebrate the publication of Gentleman's Life'The party marked the ten-year anniversary of Gentleman's Life and it was, fittingly, a party for the ages.'
-
From the Caribbean with love: The other James Bond who wrote the definitive guide to tropical birdsThe Caribbean plays host to a brilliant spectrum of colourful avians, says John Lewis-Stempel, as he revels in a birdwatcher’s paradise. Illustrations by Annabelle King.
