Lord's, St. Andrews and Silverstone must be quivering in their boots every time tennis touches down for its four-week summer fling with the grass courts of Great Britain.

The trio of venues can unquestionably be considered among the most prestigious sporting arenas in the country, but it's a status that's in jeopardy every time the Wimbledon's All-England Tennis Club hosts the third tennis major of the year.

In its 127<sup>th year, the Lawn Tennis Association are able to retain policies that are more befitting of the first year of the championships, rather than a modern day sporting event.

Heather Watson
Heather Watson brought British success on day one.

In a ticketing policy that mirrors the complexity of the London 2012 Olympics, those who wish to attend must send a stamped addressed envelope in order to earn an application form to apply for tickets. Upon applying, you're unable to specify the day, nor the court you wish to watch.

The club feel that should you be successful, just attending the event should be enough to satisfy; regardless of whether you're lucky enough to watch your favourite player or not. It might be a policy that ostracises some of tennis' more fair-weather fans, but coupled with creating a buzz surrounding those prestige matches, and filling the smaller show courts, a sense of delight accompanies those successful applications.

The second route for tickets comes via 'The Queue', a progress us English have become synonymous with adoring to the bitter end. Formerly conducted by the entry gate, such is the demand to be included in the furore that surrounds Wimbledon, that now the golf club, over the road from the All-England Club is required to house the many thousands who camp overnight, and who join the queue in the early hours, in order to gain entry for the following day.

The self-professed most organised queue in the world, might only be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Britishness (there's a section on the Wimbledon website of 'how to queue'), but it's yet another way the organisers have helped extend the Wimbledon experience, but also swell the interest surrounding the event.

While this may seem like a repetition of the rules, it's to emphasise that while the events' ideals look prehistoric set against other sports, not least other grand slams, the effective concepts mean rather than looking dated, the tournament comes across as fresh and modern. LOCOG take note.

On the first Monday of the 2012 Championships, a year which will see the Olympic Games come to SW19 late in July, even the weather matched the tournament's principles; glorious sunshine met the 42,000 spectators on day one.

The worst kept secret of Wimbledon lies in its outside courts during the opening week of the Championships, where five-set thrillers, unknown quantities and the odd tirade at the umpire are exclusively set aside.

While we're used to old fashioned ticketing and the occasional outbreak of sunshine during the Wimbledon fortnight, we've seldom been treated to a British female winner on centre court.

Arranged in the twilight of day one, Heather Watson took to one of the great sporting theatres and produced a performance fitting of the grandest of stages and 27 years after the last British female centre court winner, she delivered a stark reminder of yesteryear to delight a patient crowd. Those thousands that remained knew it wasn't the only one they had enjoyed at The Championships.

London