Since 2022, the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s primary touchpoint in the U.S. during Wimbledon was “The Hill in New York,” a viewing plaza hosted at Brooklyn Bridge Park the final weekend of the tournament.
A “happy accident” -- the 2026 World Cup, for which Adidas is activating a Fan Zone in the park -- interrupted that tradition this year. But AELTC CEO Sally Bolton believes the organization has come up with “something more amazing” in its stead: a weekend-long activation called “The Wimbledon Court” at Wollman Rink in Central Park. The free-to-enter (via a ballot process) activation, put on with assistance from N.Y.-based agency The Experiential Group, will include an invitational with retired players Andre Agassi, Caroline Wozniacki, James Blake and Genie Bouchard on Friday; a Wimbledon viewing party during the day on Monday; and a slew of activities in between, including the opportunity for fans to play on the grass court, shop Wimbledon merchandise, and enjoy the tournament’s flagship F&B item, strawberries and cream. Barclays, Wimbledon’s banking sponsor, and Ralph Lauren, its official outfitter, will also stage activations.
“We have a limited capacity here, so there are many millions of people around the world who won’t ever have the opportunity to visit us here at SW19,” Bolton told SBJ. “We’ve got to think about how we can try to take the essence of that experience out to people.”
ACROSS THE POND: Bolton called the U.S. Wimbledon’s top target market for fan growth. An AELTC spokesperson added that the tournament’s U.S. audience has grown 23%, and its digital engagement 81%, since 2022. Bolton cited activations like “The Wimbledon Court”; leaning into organic social media content like its “Overheard at Wimbledon” video series; and work with its U.S. broadcast partner, ESPN, to grow its global audience as the primary ways of capitalizing on that momentum. “Top of the list would be growth of the audience and the quality of the engagement we get,” Bolton said of Wimbledon’s goals in the market. “Bringing people in, keeping them in our ecosystem for longer and deepening that relationship is really the primary objective, rather than the one-for-one style revenue generation of the event.” The AELTC also views concepts like “The Wimbledon Court” as a useful test of its grass-court technology, which Bolton said could be used for additional pop-ups or future grass-court tournaments as it is refined.
ON THE GROUNDS: Bolton framed 2026 as a relatively quiet year around the Wimbledon grounds in terms of new initiatives. But there are a few:
- Work continues on a three-year, multimillion-pound renovation of the Millenium Building, which houses media and player-facing spaces. That project will wrap in 2027.
- One year after implementing live electronic line-calling, Wimbledon is adding a video review process for certain calls this year.
- Expecting hot weather, the tournament has expanded its shaded and sheltered areas.
- There is also the specter of Serena Williams, who will play doubles (with her sister Venus) and singles on main draw wild cards as part of her return-from-retirement tour that began earlier this month at the HSBC Championships in London. Bolton said Williams hasn’t catalyzed any obvious ticketing growth, as the event has no problem with fan demand, but is driving interest. “This build-up to The Championships has had an extra boost with all of the speculation about whether she would play, wouldn’t play, doubles, singles,” Bolton said. “Back to reasons why people might just tune in or pay some attention where they might not have before -- Serena completely transcends tennis, and so trying to get to those audiences that might not be thinking tennis but have their interest piqued.”
