Some events improve with age. Wimbledon has been going since 1877, making it the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and it remains the one every player actually wants to win. It is also the only Grand Slam still played on grass, which gives the whole fortnight a pleasantly stubborn quality.

The 2026 Championships run from 29 June to 12 July at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in SW19, where the traditions are fiercely maintained: whites-only kit, minimal advertising, strawberries and cream at prices that require a moment of quiet reflection. The relationship with Slazenger, supplying balls since 1902, is the longest-running sponsorship in sport. Centre Court's retractable roof means rain no longer has quite the same power to ruin everything, though British summers remain characterful enough to keep things interesting. The queue, inevitably, is an institution in itself.