{"id":766267,"date":"2026-06-28T06:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T06:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/766267\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T06:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T06:43:12","slug":"opinion-wimbledon-is-courting-corporations-and-clueless-c-listers-for-some-this-just-isnt-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/766267\/","title":{"rendered":"OPINION – Wimbledon is courting corporations and clueless C-listers \u2014 for some, this just isn\u2019t tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Has Wimbledon<\/a> gone vulgar? The opposing positions are stark. Depending on who you listen to, the most famous tennis tournament in the world has either entered a golden age or has hit an unimagined nadir of naffness. Let\u2019s work it out point by point.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s tournament had the distinction of offering the record-breaking, and eye-watering, prize money of \u00a33 million each for the winners; it was also the first time the trophies were handed to men\u2019s (Jannik Sinner) and women\u2019s (Iga \u015awi\u0105tek) champions who had both served suspensions for banned substances.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me the rot set in when Ralph Lauren<\/a> started sponsoring it,\u201d says an erstwhile member of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club board. As sponsorships go there is nothing subtle about Ralph Lauren\u2019s presence at the tournament.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A spectator wears a Wimbledon Polo Ralph Lauren jacket at Wimbledon 2024 (Getty)<\/p>\n

The deal, which was renewed on June 15, sees Ralph Lauren enter its third decade as the Official Partner and Official Outfitter of the championship. Purists were dramatically shaken in 2006, when the American brand radically sexed up the staid Wimbledon look. Everything from the British-made green polyester blazers of the umpires to the caps of the ball boys and girls were given a seismic makeover.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean it is just ghastly \u2014 most of these celebrities think top spin is a setting for the tumble dryer\u201d<\/p>\n

An unnamed Wimbledon grandee<\/p>\n

These days, rather than blend into the court, the tailored navy blazers with white piping, paired with impeccable blue-and-white-striped shirts, white collars and cream-coloured trousers or skirts, are expressly designed to make the umpires and officials pop. While for the ball boys and girls, their bespoke navy outfits are one of the great perks of the job.<\/p>\n

Though the curmudgeonly griped at the time, it is generally agreed that it was done well; and with all things like this we can\u2019t remember how it looked before. What is much less popular with the grand Wimbledon faithful is the wholesale corporate assault.<\/p>\n

For a competition that spent the first 129 years of its life studiously uncommercial, it is jarring that you can\u2019t now swing a racket without hitting some form of Ralph Lauren branding or merch.<\/p>\n

An invasion of unseeded celebs<\/p>\n

This is whacked into especially glaring relief when it comes to the celebrities who flock to SW19. A Wimbledon grandee, who won\u2019t be named for fear of having her comped tickets withdrawn, says, \u201cI mean it is just ghastly. They come and pose in front of those awful Ralph Lauren sign things. That is their sole reason for being there. Most of them think top spin is a setting for the tumble dryer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Beckham poses for a selfie with a fan from the Royal Box (Getty)<\/p>\n

It is true that Wimbledon is now a mecca for celebrities. Of the big hitters, last year saw the likes of David Beckham, Lily Collins and Olivia Rodrigo strike their pose in front of the Ralph Lauren backdrops, and word is this year is set to be the starriest yet. It goes without saying that the inevitable royals and tennis mad Middletons (who very definitely know what top spin is) will be out in force. But it\u2019s the C-list, unseeded celebrities who really have the power to drive the tournament fanatics over the edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was there last year, there were lots of really shocking looking people in spiky heels that kept getting stuck in the grass,\u201d says a young Wimbledon devotee. \u201cBut we thought they looked a bit familiar. Sort of famous. It turned out that Evian had literally shelled out tickets on the proviso that these people tagged themselves in the Evian tent. I swear that none of them ever left it. It did chafe a bit, as my equally tennis-obsessed boyfriend\u2019s parents had \u2014 after years and years of trying \u2014 won tickets from the public ballot and couldn\u2019t go so they gave them to us. We obviously can\u2019t afford to go this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t stop the tantrums<\/p>\n

There is some truth to this. Word is that last year some aspiring starlets missed match after match as they instead posed merrily in the gaudy pink splendour of the Evian Mountain of Youth suite.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meet ballboys and ballgirls, who have new rules this year (PA)<\/p>\n

But the worst and most insidious criticism levelled at the tournament is that it has become bland. \u201cI hate that so many of the quirks have gone out of the game,\u201d says one of the Wimbledon top brass. There was great outrage when it was announced a year or so ago that beloved line umpire Charlie Falconer was fired just before his 50th year of service to be replaced with the electronic line calling system, Hawk-Eye.<\/p>\n

Draconian rules about swearing and tantrums could be set to ruin the fun, too. Last year, 12 players were fined \u00a336,800, well over double the amount of the year before, for unsportsmanlike behaviour (the charming sounding offence of racket abuse being the newest bugbear). And there won\u2019t even be the light relief of fainting ball boys and girls, as they are now required to follow the one hour on the court, one hour off policy.<\/p>\n

The vulgarity of the tournament might not be a black or white matter (it is a great source of comfort to Wimbledon die-hards that \u2014 apart from the odd row about coloured knickers \u2014 the white on court rule remains implacable) but more patchy than that. What is not moot though is the joy it will bring. The Saudis might be building an uber-Wimbledon in the desert but my advice would be to stick to SW19. Watch on the box or in person, it is pretty hard to knock it.<\/p>\n

Alice Cockerell is a freelance writer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Has Wimbledon gone vulgar? The opposing positions are stark. Depending on who you listen to, the most famous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,10406,75703,82,593,614],"class_list":["post-766267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-david-beckham","tag-ralph-lauren","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-wimbledon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}