SW19 prepares for the Championships – two glorious weeks of high-quality tennis

By Paul Lagan at the AELTC

The Championships start tomorrow and it will be two weeks of heartaches or tears of joy as the world’s best players descend on SW19 to try and claim to be the king or queen of the grass.

To add special spice to the event, it marks the 100 years of the Centre Court. So expect all sorts of references to that historic event throughout the tournament.

But while the thousands upon thousands who amble down Church Road from Southfields Tube station look to enjoy all that the Championships has to offer, work has been going on for weeks to get everything ‘just right’ .

To that event, the South London Press took a early peek behind the scenes to wander round the grounds and see what the state of play – was – off the courts.

There was also an historic moment as for the first time in the history of the tournament, players were allowed to train on the sacred Centre Court ahead of the start of the matches.

Has the court held up to the pounding taken by the like of Novak Djokovic or Serena Williams?

All will be revealed on Monday.

Charlie Stong and Paul Lagan will be at the AELTC for the duration of the tournament, giving match reports and the occasional insight into what goes on to produce the greatest tennis tournament in the world.

For now, scroll down and check out the preparation pictures.

 

 

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