The players wore white, the tennis balls were smacking and everywhere you looked there was a sea of green – no, not the hallowed turf of Centre Court, but empty seats in the stands.
There were grumbles about empty seats WimbledonThe spectacle of ‘sa has lasted for several years, but with the 2024 tournament it seems to have reached a crescendo. This week, the All England Club took the decision to comment on the criticism in a statementreading: “Centre Court and Court No. 1 are sold out. It is entirely reasonable to expect that guests will not remain seated in their seats for the entire day.”
Really? I was at SW19 on Monday and the lack of spectators was a hot topic, with tennis fans sitting around us surprised at the lack of attendance. The Club also blamed this year’s poor weather, but I can’t think of a better place to be in the pouring rain than under the retractable roof of Centre Court.
In the thrilling third set between American star Taylor Fritz and fourth seed Alexander Zverev, I reckon the venue was three-quarters full, with obvious blocks of 15-20 empty seats. Which may not be so bad, but when you’re watching from home because you couldn’t get a ticket, queuing outside in the rain or sitting on Henman Hill because you only have a pass, it’s as frustrating as first-world problems. It was the same on Court One, for the match between ninth seed Alex de Minaur and Arthur Fils, with obvious blocks of empty seats. If SW19 is hoping to shake off its reputation as an elite event, this isn’t helping.
Annoyed tennis fans have taken to social media in recent days, wondering how, when tickets are “like gold dust”, there can be empty seats at big matches like Emma Raducanu’Sunday. “Thousands of people queuing, millions being shut out, and yet it’s half empty? It’s broken,” wrote one angry supporter. Two summers ago, even Sue Barker noted that “there are a lot of empty seats” – and when Sue speaks, we listen.
It’s not just an inconvenience for the fans. An empty court can spoil the mood faster than handing Cliff Richard a microphone. In modern tennis, players expect thunderous cheers from packed stadiums, not muted applause from a decimated crowd. Grand Slam tournaments like Wimbledon are the sport’s great showcase, a chance to showcase its popularity to the world and attract new fans. That’s hard to do when it seems like even lucky ticket holders can’t be bothered to show up.
Part of the problem, of course, is hospitality. There’s no denying that the Grand Slams – and Wimbledon in particular – have become social outings. You only have to look at the revolving door of celebrities in the royal box and the choice seats (Monday: Nicole Scherzinger, actress Jodie Turner-Smith and Love Island’s Montana Brown), and the endless Instagram selfies in front of corporate logos, to understand that SW19 has become a place to be seen, rather than a place to watch tennis. I’m not bitter about not getting such an invitation myself, you know?
“Hospitality for Wimbledon 2024 has once again seen unprecedented demand and all places have been sold out by the end of March, earlier than ever before!” reads the tournament website.
Paul MillerThe founder of Eden Mill, an official partner of the Lawn Tennis Association, said the hospitality tickets provide “a bit of quiet time away from all the noise and action at Wimbledon.”
But the hubbub, the noise and the action are exactly what tennis fans flock to SW19 for. And having seen the sheer volume of people packed inside the courts this week – attendance figures are now above pre-pandemic levels – I can attest that the vast majority of the noise and action is happening off the courts, not on them.
In fact, many people never leave the free bar and would rather gorge themselves than watch a tennis match. The lure of the free cucumber sandwich has never been stronger.
Those who venture onto the court are often not involved in the action. Two men sitting in front of us, wearing company lanyards, chatted for an entire set—until annoyed fans leaned over and asked them to be quiet. They left shortly afterward and never returned. Trust me, when you’ve spent your own hard-earned money on tickets to a show court, you’re reluctant to leave them for anything other than a most urgent pee break.
It should be noted that most of the empty blocks will be debt securities, including 2,520 on Centre Court, or 16.7% of the 14,979 total seats (after corporate and guest seats, only 53.5% of the seats are available to the public). It would be naive to overlook how essential these five-year passes – which guarantee the best seats in the venue, every day of the tournament – are to its survival, with the revenue contributing significantly to the prize money.
Indeed, the argument put forward by many is that if the seat has been paid for, it is up to the punter to occupy it or not. But if Wimbledon is a business, this attitude is terribly alienating to tennis fans who may never be able to tick Wimbledon off their bucket list.
So what to do? For starters, and this is something that would be easy to adapt, the 20 minute break between games is not long enough. I understand the need to shake things up, but it didn’t give us enough time to run to the toilet and buy a cup of tea – the only time we left our seats all day, and we still missed the first few plays of the next game. It’s unfair to the fans and the players.
Others have suggested selling tickets by the match or for half-days, but I find this frustrating for other Grand Slams, which have split their offerings into “day” and “night”, meaning you can easily pay hundreds of pounds and see very little tennis if a player dominates or – as has happened to me three times this year – if a player has to retire. Wimbledon resells tickets after spectators have left for the day to those with £15 passes, with all the proceeds going to charity. But it depends on how they signal this fact – which is far from foolproof.
Hospitality packages including giant screens or glass viewing areas? Passes allowing pass holders to temporarily fill empty seats? All options should be discussed before the issue of empty seats at Wimbledon reaches breaking point.
