A centenary celebration for Wimbledon’s Centre Court will highlight the 2022 tournament

The 135th edition of the world’s oldest tennis tournament will feature a new schedule and a return to pre-pandemic ticketing for 2022.

AELTC, the subsidiary of The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club that is in charge of Wimbledon, or as it is known officially The Championships, announced on Tuesday the initial overview of plans for next year’s tournament.

The focus of The Championships 2022 will be celebrating 100 years of Centre Court in its current location at Church Road in Wimbledon. Besides being the focal point of The Championships over the past century, Centre Court also hosted matches including for gold medals during the Olympic tennis tournament at London 2012.

A special ceremony will take place on July 3, the Middle Sunday, to mark the centenary.

The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum has installed a new exhibition dedicated to Centre Court – 100 Years of Change – which is now available for visitors to the Grounds to enjoy. The milestone will also be the central theme of the annual Wimbledon campaign, launching in the spring, and a commemorative centenary towel will be on sale through the Wimbledon Shop.

For the first time in history, matches will be scheduled over the entire 14 days of the tournament. The Middle Sunday has historically been a day off, unless poor weather during the first week would force organizers to play matches to catch up. This was the case in 1991, 1997, 2004 and 2016.

“By adding the Middle Sunday, we can spread the fourth round matches over two days in line with the other Grand Slams, and we have also taken the opportunity to make some additional changes to enhance the second week for our competitors, guests, partners and fans around the world,” the AELTC said in a statement.

The ticketing for the tournament will return to a more normal arrangement for 2022 following the cancellation of the 2020 edition and limited seating capacity for the 2021 event.

There will be no 2022 Wimbledon Public Ballot, the tournament’s ticket draw. AELTC said guests who were successful in the 2020 Wimbledon Public Ballot and took up their ticket offer will be offered the same day and court for 2022. Fans will be able to register to receive access to any returned tickets.

Also coming back will be another Wimbledon tradition: long lines of people waiting to buy tickets to attend that day’s play. The Queue and Ticket Resale will return for on-day sales.