Courts The All England Club
How Many Courts Are There at Wimbledon? All 18 Grass Courts Explained
Eighteen grass courts are used for matches at Wimbledon, from Centre Court and its 14,979 seats to outside courts where the front row is close enough to hear the players talk. Another 20 grass courts are kept for practice.
- Championship courts
- 18all grass, used for matches
- Roofed show courts
- 2Centre Court (14,979 seats) and No. 1 Court
- Practice courts
- 2014 at Aorangi Park, 6 more in the fortnight
Photo: Arne Müseler from Salzburg, AT, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons
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The count
How many courts are there at Wimbledon?
In shortThere are 18 grass Championship courts at Wimbledon, all used for matches. Add the 14 practice courts in Aorangi Park and 6 temporary ones, and 38 grass courts are in use during the Championships.
Ask how many courts at Wimbledon and you get two honest answers. The tournament itself is played on 18 grass courts, the Championship courts: Centre Court, No. 1 Court, the smaller stadium courts and a run of numbered outside courts. That is the number the All England Club gives for match courts.
The second answer counts everything with a net. Across the road from the show courts sits Aorangi Park, the practice ground, with 14 grass courts of its own, and the club lays out 6 more temporary grass practice courts for the fortnight. Put together, that is 38 grass courts being mown, rolled and lined every day in late June and early July.
All of them are grass. Wimbledon is the last Grand Slam on the surface, and the only one where the number of courts is limited as much by how fast grass recovers as by space. For how the three surfaces compare, see our guide to tennis court surfaces; the clay major works with a different set of numbers, laid out in how many courts Roland Garros has.
Courts map
Wimbledon courts map: show courts, Centre Court and the rest
In shortThe courts map below groups the 18 Championship courts by type: two roofed show courts, two smaller stadium courts and the outside courts, plus the practice ground. Pick a court for its seats, roof and story.
Every Wimbledon court, from the biggest down
Seats are the club's published capacities where it gives one. A dashed box means no capacity is published.
- 18Championship grass courts
- 4Stadium courts with stands
- 13Numbered outside courts
- 14 + 6Practice courts, plus temporary
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Centre Court
Roof: retractable, since 2009The main show court, home of the finals and of the defending champions’ opening matches. The roof was first closed for a match on June 29, 2009, and takes about 10 minutes to shut.
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No. 1 Court
Roof: retractable, since 2019The second show court, rebuilt with its own roof for 2019. It runs a full program through the first week.
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No. 2 Court
The third-largest court, a stadium court without a roof where seeded players often start their fortnight.
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No. 3 Court
A smaller stadium court built for 2011. No roof, so it is where rain delays bite first.
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Court 18
An outside court with a famous plaque: John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played the longest match in tennis history here in 2010, 11 hours 5 minutes over three days.
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The other outside courts
The rest of the 18 Championship courts: numbered grass courts with standing room and a few rows of seats, open to anyone with a ground pass. The best place to see players up close in the first week.
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Aorangi Park practice courts
The practice ground beside the main grounds. Players book slots here before and between matches; no matches are played on these courts.
The official grounds map, with every court and gate in its real position, is published by the Championships each year. What the plan above shows is the hierarchy of two courts with roofs and seats in five figures, two smaller stadiums, and then the outside courts, where a ground pass gets you in.
Centre Court
Centre Court: the seats and the roof
In shortCentre Court holds 14,979 spectators and has had a retractable roof since 2009. The singles finals are played there, and so are the opening matches of the defending champions.
The first Wimbledon, in 1877, was played at the club's old ground on Worple Road. The club moved to its current site on Church Road in 1922, and Centre Court has been the heart of the tournament ever since.
With 14,979 seats it is the biggest court at Wimbledon, and the one every player wants a match on. Tradition gives it the defending men's champion's opening match on the first Monday and the women's champion's on the Tuesday, along with both singles finals on the closing weekend.
The roof changed the way Centre Court works. Before 2009 rain stopped play everywhere; now the court can be covered in about 10 minutes and play continues under lights. The first match under the closed roof, on June 29, 2009, was a women's singles match between Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo.
Show courts
The other show courts: No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3
In shortNo. 1 Court, with 12,345 seats and its own roof, is the second show court. No. 2 and No. 3 Courts are smaller open-air stadiums; No. 3 holds about 2,000.
No. 1 Court was rebuilt with a retractable roof for 2019, which gave Wimbledon two covered courts and roughly doubled the tennis it can play on a wet day. The roof takes 8-10 minutes to open or close. Through the first week it carries a full program every day.
The two smaller stadium courts sit a step below. No. 2 Court is the larger of the two, and No. 3 Court, built for 2011, holds about 2,000. Neither has a roof, and both are where you will find a seeded player with a tricky first-round draw, often in front of a crowd much closer to the action than on Centre Court.
All four show courts sell reserved seats. The public ballot, the Queue in Wimbledon Park and debentures on the two biggest courts decide who gets them; our Wimbledon guide covers tickets, dates and prize money.
Roofs
Which Wimbledon courts have a roof?
In shortTwo courts have roofs, Centre Court with a retractable roof since 2009 and No. 1 Court since 2019. Every other court is open to the weather, so rain still stops play across most of the grounds.
The two roofs in numbers
Both are folding steel-and-fabric roofs that close from both ends.
2009
Centre Court roof
The first retractable roof at the club.
10 min
To close Centre Court
Roughly, from open to closed.
2019
No. 1 Court roof
Rebuilt with its own roof.
8-10 min
To close No. 1 Court
Roughly, from open to closed.
Both roofs are folding structures of steel and translucent fabric that close over the court from both ends. Centre Court's takes about 10 minutes, No. 1 Court's 8-10.
The roofs also turned Wimbledon into an evening event. Under lights and a closed roof, a match no longer has to stop for darkness, so late finishes on the two show courts are now routine. On the outside courts nothing has changed: when it rains, the covers come on and the crowds head for the show courts or the food stands.
Outside courts
The outside courts and the longest match ever played
In shortThe outside courts are the numbered grass courts beyond the show courts, with standing room and small stands. A ground pass gets you onto all of them, and Court 18 has the most famous plaque at the club.
14 of the 18 Championship courts, Court 18 among them, are numbered outside courts away from the big stadiums. They have no reserved seating in the usual sense, just a few rows of benches and standing room along the walls, and that is exactly their appeal. In the first week a ground pass bought from the Queue can put you a few feet from a top-20 player in a first-round match.
Court 18 is the one people ask about. In June 2010 John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played there for 11 hours 5 minutes across June 22-24, 2010, finishing 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 70-68. A plaque on the court records the score. A match like it can no longer happen: since 2022 all four Grand Slams settle a deciding set at 6-6 with a first-to-10 tiebreak.
Practice and qualifying
Practice courts at Aorangi Park and qualifying in Roehampton
In shortPlayers practice on the 14 grass courts at Aorangi Park, plus 6 temporary courts during the event. Qualifying is played away from the main grounds, at the Bank of England Sports Ground in Roehampton.
Beyond the main grounds
Practice at Aorangi Park, qualifying a few miles away.
14
Practice courts
Grass, at Aorangi Park.
+6
Temporary courts
Added for the fortnight.
15 yrs
Roehampton lease
Signed in 2021 for qualifying and extra grass.
0
Matches at Aorangi
Practice only; no matches are played there.
Aorangi Park is the club's practice ground, beside the main courts. No matches are played there, but it is busy from early morning: players book an hour at a time, and in the days before the tournament it is where you see the top seeds getting used to grass again after the clay season. The 6 temporary courts exist because 14 is not enough once the full men's and women's draws arrive.
Qualifying is a separate venue altogether. The week before the Championships, the qualifiers play for the last places in the main draws at the Bank of England Sports Ground, Roehampton, a few miles away. The All England Club took a 15-year lease on the ground in 2021, which gave it a permanent home for qualifying and more grass practice space.
The grass
What the Wimbledon courts are made of
In shortEvery court is 100% perennial ryegrass, used since 2001, cut to 8 mm for the Championships. The courts play fastest on the first days and slow down as the baselines wear.
Before 2001 the courts were sown with a mix that included creeping red fescue. The switch to pure ryegrass was made because ryegrass is tougher and copes better with the wear of modern baseline tennis. The grass is cut to 8 mm for the fortnight, short enough for a fast, low bounce and long enough to protect the soil underneath.
By the second week the areas behind the baselines are worn to bare, hard-packed earth, while the service boxes near the net, where few players now volley, stay green. It is a visible record of how the game has changed. The serve-and-volley era wore out the middle of the court, today's baseliners wear out the back.
The future
The Wimbledon Park plan: 39 more courts
In shortThe club plans 39 new grass courts and an 8,000-seat show court on the former Wimbledon Park golf course. London's planning authority approved it in September 2024; legal challenges by opponents followed.
The plan covers the former Wimbledon Park golf course across Church Road, with 39 new courts and a new 8,000-seat show court. The Greater London Authority approved the project on September 27, 2024, after the two local councils had split on it. Campaigners opposed to building on the parkland have taken the decision to court, and the club's own announcements say whether and when building starts.
If it goes ahead, the answer to how many courts there are at Wimbledon will change for the first time in decades. Until then it stays at 18 for matches, and the best way to see all of them is still a ground pass on the first Monday. For Wimbledon's records, from most titles to the oldest champions, see who has won the most Wimbledon titles.
FAQ
Wimbledon courts questions, answered
In shortShort answers to what visitors and viewers ask most about the courts at the All England Club.
How many courts are there at Wimbledon?
There are 18 grass Championship courts at Wimbledon, the courts used for matches during the tournament. The All England Club also has 14 grass practice courts in Aorangi Park and adds six temporary practice courts for the fortnight, so 38 grass courts are in use while the Championships are on.
How many show courts are there at Wimbledon?
The main show courts are Centre Court and No. 1 Court, both with retractable roofs, followed by the smaller stadium courts No. 2 and No. 3. Tickets for these courts are sold by seat; the rest of the grounds is open to ground-pass holders.
How many seats are on Centre Court?
Centre Court holds 14,979 spectators, the largest capacity at Wimbledon. No. 1 Court holds 12,345, and No. 3 Court about 2,000.
Does Centre Court have a roof?
Yes. The retractable roof was first used on June 29, 2009, for a match between Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo, and it takes about 10 minutes to close. No. 1 Court got its own roof in 2019.
Is there a map of the Wimbledon courts?
The official grounds map is on the Championships website and in the printed program. The court map on this page groups the 18 courts by type, with seats and roofs, but it is a schematic, not a to-scale plan of the grounds.
Which court did Isner and Mahut play on?
Court 18. John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set over three days in June 2010, in a match that lasted 11 hours 5 minutes. A plaque on the court marks it.
Where do players practice at Wimbledon?
At Aorangi Park, the practice ground next to the main courts, which has 14 grass courts. six more temporary grass practice courts are added during the Championships.
Where is Wimbledon qualifying played?
At the Bank of England Sports Ground in Roehampton, a few miles from the All England Club. The club took a long lease on the ground in 2021.
What grass are the Wimbledon courts made of?
All the courts are 100% perennial ryegrass, used since 2001, and the grass is cut to 8 mm for the Championships. Ryegrass stands up to wear better than the mixes used before.
Will Wimbledon get more courts?
The All England Club plans to add 39 courts, including an 8,000-seat show court, on the former Wimbledon Park golf course. The Greater London Authority approved the plan in September 2024, and opponents have challenged it in the courts since.