The Wimbledon Queue is a phenomenon that’s grown up around the most famous tennis tournament in the world. As athletes compete for a share of the £44 million prize fund, thousands of fans queue for hours, even days, for the chance to buy tickets to watch the play.
But is it worth the effort to queue for tickets at Wimbledon? How much play do you get to see? This year my son joined the Wimbledon queue with a friend – this is what happened.
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What is The Queue Wimbledon?
We Brits of course are famous for our ability to queue. And we’ve been practising our queuing techniques at Wimbledon for more than a century since the first suited and be-hatted tennis enthusiasts set up their camping stools in Church Road.
The Championships Wimbledon, as it is officially known, is the most famous tennis tournament in the world. One of the four Grand Slam events for the elite of the tennis circuit – and the only one played on grass – it takes place in the hallowed environs of the All England Lawn Tennis Club. This crucible of physical excellence and nail-biting drama is an 18-court ground in Wimbledon, a suburb in SW19, south west London.
Of course there are plenty of legitimate ways to obtain Wimbledon tickets in advance without sleeping overnight in a park. See below.
But Wimbledon is famously one of the only elite sporting events in the world where spectators can queue for prime seats, at their face value, on the day of the competition. Anyone can buy a ticket: if they’re willing to line up for long enough. And for a treasured seat on one of Wimbledon’s Show Courts this generally means camping overnight. And then standing in a line with thousands of other people for a very long time.
How to queue for Wimbledon
Which brings us to the Wimbledon Queue. Until 2008 Wimbledon queuers snoozed on pavements near the grounds, while local residents set up impromptu burger stalls in their gateways.
These days the queue at Wimbledon is a highly organised affair. It takes place in Wimbledon Park conveniently opposite the AELTC grounds. Perhaps it’s to do with the soaring success of British player Andy Murray, or the rise of social media which publicises the phenomenon. Whatever the reason, queue numbers have grown.
In 2023 people are flying in from all over the world to join the tens of thousands who stand, sit, lie or sleep (if they’re lucky) for hours and even days in Wimbledon Park to get a precious ticket to The Championships.
The Queue Wimbledon has come of age. And it now has an official Code of Conduct and its own Twitter accounts.
Many people commit to camping out for the night to secure highly prized tickets to the Show Courts where the top seeds compete. Some will even camp for two nights to get to the head of the Queue for Centre Court seats.
Wimbledon provides portaloos, water re-fill stations and left luggage storage for camping kit. Vans sell coffee and some hot food, many queuers order in pizzas and other local takeaways. There aren’t any showers, though rumour has it that queuers can buy day passes at a local gym.
You risk losing your place if you leave the Queue for more than 30 minutes, and there are regular checks.
Voluntary stewards walk the Queue 24 hours a day and uphold the Code with a combination of avuncular charm or general cheeriness. But this is Britain and the crowd, weaned on queues for Royal occasions, Glastonbury and any visit to the Post Office, is overwhelmingly law abiding, good humoured and stoic.
The Wimbledon official website gamely asserts that the Queue is as much a part of the Wimbledon experience as the tennis. But is the Wimbledon Queue really worth it?
Wimbledon Queue FAQs
Wimbledon tickets allow access to specific courts on specific days rather than individual matches. In 2023 the lucky people at the head of the Queue can buy from a daily allocation of 500 Centre Court tickets (for the first 10 days only), 500 for No. 1 Court and 500 for No. 2 Court (in the first 10 days only). Once these have gone the rest of the Queue can buy Ground Passes for access to standing room and unreserved seating on Courts 3 to 18 and The Hill.
The Ground’s capacity varies according to the weather and how many courts are in play.
Go to the Wimbledon website for each day’s ticket tariff. As a guide, in 2023 Centre Court tickets cost between £70 and £255 with the highest prices at the end of the 2nd week. Ground passes cost £27. This reduced after 5pm to £18 on the day I visited which was middle Sunday. They also reduce in price for the last 6 days of the competition which have fewer matches.
Stewards know how many tickets are available each day. They also know how many people are in the Queue. A steward told me that they do their absolute best to make sure that people don’t queue in vain. So they will tell you when you arrive if they think the Queue is already so long that you risk being disappointed that day.
No. At present the information on the Wimbledon website states that Centre Court tickets aren’t available to the Queue on the last 4 days of the Tournament.
Wimbledon has 18 Championship grass courts in all. Centre Court is the most prestigious, it’s the most famous tennis court in the world. It holds nearly 15000 people and has a retractable roof so play can continue during rain or into the evening. No.1 court also has a moveable roof and has a capacity of around 12000. No. 2 Court has 4000 seats whilst Court 3 seats 2000. Courts 12 (approx 1,700 seats) and 18 (around 750 seats) are also considered Show Courts and host some famous names during the Fortnight, especially in the first week.
A Ground Pass gives you access to unreserved seating and standing room on Courts 3 to 18. Grounds ticket holders can also choose to sit on The Hill and watch play on the big screens there. Or join the lines after 3pm for resale tickets to Centre Court and Courts No. 1 and No. 2.
It depends! Grounds tickets give you access to unreserved seats on Courts 3, 12 and 18 and unreserved seating on the outside courts 4 to 11 and 14 to 17. But this is according to availability. If they’re full you’ll have to queue. And No. 3 Court, which has some reserved seating, can operate its own free ticketed queue at very busy times.
Seat holders return their tickets for Centre Court, No.1 and No.2 as they leave the grounds. These go up for sale after 3pm at the Resale Kiosk beside The Hill. They are a bargain price: £15 for Centre Court and £10 for the others, which goes to charity. But the queues can be very long. The resale queues are waiting for the original seat holders to leave the courts and go home. And on a lovely sunny day with great matches, they might not!
What the Wimbledon Queue is like 2023
My son Nick joined the queue on Friday 7 July, day 5 of the tournament.
The weather forecast was very good, it was the hottest day of the week with highs of 27° C. Plus Andy Murray held an overnight lead of 2 sets to 1 over Stefan Tsitsipas in a game which was continuing that day. These are both factors that would contribute to more people than ever deciding to queue.
Nick had opted out of queuing overnight in Wimbledon Park. He knew this meant he wouldn’t get the chance of a Show Court ticket. Instead he and a friend joined the Queue at 6 am. According to their tickets they were 5313 and 5314 in line. A steady stream of people were arriving behind them and the Queue built up very quickly. With Queue Cards in hand they joined long lines of people already waiting.
How do you pass the time in the Wimbledon Queue?
Nick did a supermarket sweep the night before queuing and took a cool bag jam-packed with breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks plus a picnic blanket. So they didn’t need to join the Queue’s famous sub-queues at the coffee and fast food vans in the park.
They didn’t find the waiting too onerous either. It was a lovely day for sitting around on the grass and having a chat.
The lines started to move around 9.45 am when the gates opened. The Wimbledon grounds open at 10 am and play starts on the outside courts at 11 am.
Unfortunately Wimbledon was on high alert after protesters disrupted Monday’s play. So it took a while for members of the Queue to buy their tickets and process through the security checks. A steward explained that the rate was around 2000 people per hour. It was taking longer than in previous years. This meant it was 12.30pm before Nick and his friend could buy their Ground Passes and go through the gates. At this point they’d spent 6 and a half hours standing in line.
Was the Wimbledon Queue Worth it?
As play didn’t start on Centre Court until 1.30pm or Court No.1 til 1pm, the rest of the courts were already busy with Show Court ticket holders waiting for their own matches to begin. This does reduce the chance of people with Ground Passes getting seats quickly when they enter the grounds. Spaces eventually become free once play starts on the Show Courts and people go to claim their seats.
The first Friday was a particularly busy day. Other friends who had Show Court tickets say the grounds were ‘packed!’ making it quite difficult to move around and with long queues for food and drinks.
Nick says: “We tried Court No. 3 first but the queue was so long that we decided it would take an hour to get in. Then we went to Court 18 but again the queue was huge and it was unlikely anyone would leave the Berrettini vs de Minaur match. But, third time lucky, and we got seats on Court 12 to see most of the match between Hurkacz vs Musetti.
After that we dipped in and out of some more singles and doubles on the outside courts and sat on The Hill for a while to watch on the big screens. The queues for resale tickets were too long to bother with!
We got lucky in the evening because we found a great game, Garcia vs Bouzkova, on Court 18. By 8.30pm with still one set to go the light was fading. Then officials transferred the match to No. 1 Court which was empty! The audience moved across too which was great. We watched as the roof closed on No. 1 Court and then saw the final set there.”
Verdict: Overall we had a great day.
The Wimbledon website gives clear instructions to all would-be queuers. Nick’s top tip? Take plenty of food with you!
More ways to buy tickets for Wimbledon
There are other ways to get tickets for Wimbledon. Here’s how:
- Enter the public UK and Overseas ballot in autumn. Applicants go into a draw and tickets are allocated at random, one pair per household, to lucky winners. You can’t control the day, court or price of the tickets you are allocated. And you may not get lucky at all.
- Apply for a Wimbledon hospitality package via official provider, Keith Prowse. Often bought for corporate entertaining these tickets include prime seats on Centre Court or No 1 Court, plus meals and drinks in the entertainment suites on site. They obviously cost more than the face value of the seats, but they’re a fabulous way to experience the Tournament!
- Buy a debenture ticket that has been offered for resale. Debenture tickets are prime seats in Centre Court and Court No 1. Debenture holders invest in the AELTC and receive tickets each year along with Tournament perks like access to Debenture restaurants, bars and parking. Debenture holders may resell these tickets either personally or through resale sites.
- The Lawn Tennis Association holds its own ballot for its members including players, fans, officials and coaches.
- Apparently the Ticketmaster website has some tickets available for the following day’s play. They sell out within minutes though.
- In some years local residents are offered a ballot for tickets. Again there’s no guarantee. And you’d need to buy a local property to qualify!
Please note that all visitor information here is for guidance only. Please check the relevant websites for the most up to date information eg. accommodation details, tickets, entrance requirements, opening times etc.
All photos are all rights reserved. Please do not reproduce these photos without prior written permission
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About the author Nancy is a former women’s magazine editor and writer who lives in London and is mum to two 20-something boys. In Map&Family she shares info and inspiration for curious travellers: singles and couples as well as families travelling with teens and young adults.
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