My Thoughts on Innovations and Traditions at 2025 Wimbledon

I'm not sure what it was about this year's Wimbledon that is prompting me to do an abridged, Jon Wertheim-style Parting Shots post, other than the urge to document some observations that will only recede with time. Wimbledon and the US Open are the two majors I attend every year as credentialed media, so my inclination is to weigh one against the other, which isn't easy, nor very productive, as they have little in common save for the fact the best players in the world compete for titles on their courts.

So, in entirely random impressions that have popped into my head this afternoon, here we go:

The crowd for the boys doubles final on Court One

Court One for Junior Finals

I will always marvel at the number of fans who watch junior tennis (and legends, wheelchair, mixed, etc.) at Wimbledon. AELTC sells tickets for Court One on the final weekend, with junior and wheelchair finals the most likely matches to be played there if the weather is good, which it was this year. The 12,345 seats were sold out Sunday, and although there were obviously empty seats, particularly those located in the sun, I would estimate the crowds at 8,000 to 10,000 for the three junior finals played there on Saturday and Sunday. With Oliver Bonding from Great Britain in the boys doubles final Saturday, the audience had a rooting interest, and I can confidently state that it was the biggest crowd for a boys doubles match I have ever seen, anywhere. Even if the outcome wasn't what they had hoped, the fans were polite and appreciative of the efforts of Alan Wazny of Poland and Oskari Paldanius of Finland in saving match points to take their second consecutive junior slam doubles title.

The Court One net ready for action

Let Serves

This year's decision by Wimbledon to align with the other three junior slams to not replay serves that clip the net if they land in the box was not popular with the fans in attendance. If I had a pound for every spectator who said 'I heard a let, didn't you hear a let?' or something similarly incredulous on how the umpire could miss it, I would have easily earned enough to pay for my Uber to Heathrow. I have long since made my peace with that 2018 ITF junior rule, which has not been adopted on any pro level tournament, although college men and women also uniformly play let serves. I will say I saw many more lets on serves than normal, which I am told is a function of the generally looser nets at Wimbledon.

An ELC Close Call display

Electronic Line Calling

I asked nearly every junior I talked to over the nine days about the innovation, which is new to Wimbledon this year and installed on every court. In past years the Challenge System was occasionally available for juniors depending if a pro match was scheduled on that court, but it was random and in a sense, unfair.

I would say 90% of the juniors, most of whom had had several chances to play with the system at the US Open and Australian Open, liked it, and felt it kept them more focused on their match and the next point, rather than the possibility that the line umpires had made a mistake that could be overruled by the chair. Hannah Klugman expressed regret at the loss of the umpires for ambient reasons but accepted, as did all the other juniors I spoke to about, that it was more accurate than humans. There was one exception to that, with Alan Wazny of Poland saying that the "machine" makes as many mistakes as the humans.

"I think line umpires are better, Wazny said. "Here and there are mistakes, but the system also makes mistakes, you can see that. Maybe not a lot of mistakes but visible mistakes. It doesn't really matter, but I think the line umpires are better for the tradition."

The sole junior sponsored by Vuori

Clothing deals

Junior players come by their sponsors in a variety of ways. Girls finalist Julieta Pareja has an NIL deal with IMG, which means she retains her collegiate eligibility, and is now wearing ON, which has a tiny number of juniors; I saw only Julia Stusek of Germany and 14U player Keri Hong of Korea wearing the brand last week.

But even more rare was a junior wearing Vuori, the athletic and lifestyle brand. The company, based, coincidentally in Pareja's hometown of Carlsbad California, sponsors Marcos Giron, Tristan Boyer and Desirae Krawczyk, Southern Californians all. Their only junior is Australian Open boys finalist Benjamin Willwerth, who came about his sponsorship via a fortuitous mistake. In Australia, Willwerth, sponsored by Wilson, intended to wear that company's hat, but was told the logo did not comply with apparel regulations. USTA National Coach Mario Rincon came up with a Vuori hat that did pass muster.

"USTA Coach Mario was wearing a Vuori hat and he just gave it to me and it was the only hat I could wear there," Willwerth said. "I started using that and used it the entire tournament and after the tournament we started talking with them, and I got sponsored by Vuori. I love them. I had heard about them before, but never through tennis. Gym people wear it, but I think they're going to start to do more sports, more tennis."

Kathy Rinaldi and Kent Kinnear watching a junior match

USTA presence at Wimbledon

It was heartening to see so many coaches from the USTA at Wimbledon this year after so much talk about the budgetary constraints that were keeping Player Development from traveling. In addition to National Coaches Mario Rincon and Jose Caballeros for the boys, Thierry Champion and Georgi Rumenov for the girls and Celeste Frey for the 14Us, head of women's tennis Kathy Rinaldi and head of men's tennis Kent Kinnear were trekking back and forth from Court One and Centre Court to the outside courts, for long stretches of time, offering encouragement and support to the juniors and 14s.

I also met Tracy Davies, who was recently announced as the USTA's General Manager of USA Tennis, a newly created position. The conversation was not extensive but I was impressed with her openness and knowledge of the junior space; I heard none of the corporate-speak that becomes a habit for longtime executives in administration.

Rain early in the week can be handled without stress with nine days to work with

The schedule

In addition to the scheduling of junior matches on the show courts, even early in the tournament, the advantage Wimbledon has over the US Open is the schedule. When play on middle Sunday began, in 2022, Wimbledon did not shorten the junior event, but continued to play first round matches on Saturday. This gives them extra leeway in case of rain, and allows a day off from singles early in the week for both boys and girls if weather allows it. This makes for less tension and allows me to see more matches because they are not on all at once.

In contrast, the US Open (and Roland Garros) complete the 64-player draws in seven days, which makes for many more matches early and adds considerable tension if there is heat and rain as was the case in New York in both 2022 and 2023. In 2022 finalist Lucie Havlickova of the Czech Republic had to play a singles semifinal and two doubles matches the day before the final, and was likely unable to recover mentally and physically from all that tennis the day before. I can't fathom why the USTA decided to end the Junior Championships on the second Saturday, rather than Sunday, as it was pre-pandemic, but Wimbledon undoubtedly has the better schedule for fans, players, media and staff.

Talking British juniors with Radio Wimbledon host 

Marcus Buckland

The Media Pavilion
A new, badly needed media center debuted in 2022 and it is now my favorite place to watch Show Court 18 matches, from above and behind. The interview rooms, the Media Theatre and the balcony outside are huge improvements over the cramped quarters on the ground level previously in use.

I enjoy my two Radio Wimbledon segments every year, where I get to talk about the juniors with other media commentators and well-prepared hosts. I know most people in the United States aren't up at 5:30 a.m. to catch them, but I hope those tuning in on site via the Amex radios might be inspired to see check out some of the top juniors during the day, not just the British ones.

The Gardens

Probably nothing is more commented on by a first-time visitor to Wimbledon than the flowers, the thousands of purple and red and white petunias, the hydrangeas, the veronica, the allium all arranged as if in a floral shop or English garden. Even in the crush of 40,000 plus spectators trying to get from one court to another, it adds welcome serenity to any scene.