Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2004 - Tickets

Dateline: 21st June 2004

Wimbledon
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Even though the Wimbledon Tennis Championships start today, it is still possible for ordinary members of the public to buy tickets for the show courts, that is Centre Court and No.1 and No.2 courts. Each day, except for the last four days of the Championships, approximately 500 tickets for each of these three courts are sold at the turnstiles. To buy them, people queue (stand in line) all night, usually taking along sleeping bags and blankets to get as much sleep as they can on the pavement. Not a comfortable way to spend a night but worth it to get these precious tickets and see some of the biggest stars on the tennis circuit.

In addition to the show court tickets, Wimbledon also sells around 6000 ground tickets each day. These entitle the ticket holder to use the free standing space around No.2 court and unreserved seating and standing on courts 3 to 19.

If you want to queue for tickets during the Championships, you need to go to Gate 3 in Church Road.

Advance Tickets
If you just can't bear the idea of queuing but want to buy tickets, it is too late for this year. You can, however, apply to go into the public ballot for the 2005 Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

• Send a stamped addressed envelope to The All England Lawn Tennis Club, PO Box 98, London SW19 5AE between 1 August and 15 December 2004) for an application form. Requests for forms postmarked after 15 December will not be processed. Applicants should specify if they require a form for the Wheelchair Ballot.
• Completed forms must be returned to the Ticket Office before 31 December 2004. Applications postmarked after this date will not be included in the ballot.

Middle Saturday
Because there were concerns about the size of the queue on the Middle Saturday of the Championships, changes were introduced in 2003. You can find more details here.

Cancellation of Play due to rain

• A full refund of the ticket’s face value will be payable to the original purchaser if there is less than one hour’s play because of rain on the court for which tickets have been bought.
• A half refund of the ticket’s face value will be payable if there is more than one hour’s play, but less than two hours’ play.
• A full refund for ground tickets, except those purchased after 5pm at the turnstiles, if there is less than one hour’s play on any of Courts 2-19 inclusive.
• Refunds will be paid out automatically for tickets bought in advance, but tickets bought at the Club’s turnstiles (prior to 5pm only) should be sent without delay to the Ticket Office.
• Tickets for Sunday 4 July are now included in this scheme and are therefore no longer valid for admission on subsequent days.
• If there is any play on Monday 5 July and the following days, admission will be via the turnstiles on a first come, first served basis.

Resale of used tickets

• Every effort is made to ensure that seat tickets that are no longer needed are made available for resale to people already within the grounds. Original ticket holders are asked to put unwanted tickets in special red boxes for collection by the Honorary Stewards or, if wishing to retain them as souvenirs, to have the bar codes scanned on leaving the grounds so that a new ticket may be generated.
• Since 1954, monies raised from returned tickets has been donated to charity. In the last 10 years over £1/2 million has been raised, including the total of £71,400 raised in 2003. The charities benefiting in the 2004 Championships are the National Playing Fields Association, SPARKS (Sports Aiding medical Research for Kids), The Dan Maskell Tennis Trust, and local charities.

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Copyright © 2004 by Carol Fisher. All Rights Reserved