It’s been over six years since I wrote my guide to visiting Wimbledon so I thought it was time for an update as there have been quite a few changes, especially with the ticketing process. It’s only taken me three months to finish this post! I’m very lucky to live just 25 miles away from one of the four Slams and have been to Wimbledon every year since 2005. It’s always a challenge trying to get tickets so there’s a bulky section to begin with some tips.

Buying tickets 🎟️

Of the four Slams, Wimbledon is arguably the most difficult Slam to get tickets for. Read on for an overview of your options.

Public ballot: Since 2020, the public ballot moved online. I miss the days of having to send a stamped addressed envelope to apply! To enter the public ballot you need a My Wimbledon account – make sure to check your “Consent & Preferences” and that “Tickets & Ballots” is selected.

You will receive an e-mail from Wimbledon to let you know that the public ballot is open – for 2026 tickets, this was on the 2nd September 2025 with a deadline to enter of the 16th September, 2025. All you need to do is follow the instructions in the e-mail. I know a few friends had some issues logging in as you can often get a warning to try again if it is busy – just keep trying! Once you log in, it is pretty straightforward. You will need to confirm your details and select whether you want to enter the main ballot or the wheelchair ballot. You should receive an e-mail to confirm that you have entered the public ballot.

Successful applications are first notified in October and ticket releases continue until March. If you have been unsuccessful during this stage of the public ballot then you will receive an e-mail confirming this – in 2025, this happened in late March. But don’t despair because if you have been unlucky then you will have access to the Ballot Returns Shop where returned tickets will appear. You can only access the Ballot Returns if you entered the public ballot in the first place.

Since the public ballot went online, I have never been allocated tickets during the first phase that runs between October and March. To be honest, i’m always hoping NOT to get tickets in this stage. If you get tickets in the first round then I believe you’re given tickets for a specific day which you either have to accept or decline. If you decline the tickets (for example, they might be on a day that you are not available for) then this prevents you from being able to purchase tickets with the returns. This is confirmed on the website (see below).

For the past two years, I have managed to get tickets via the ballot returns – this is a page that has a ticketing option for each day on Centre Court, No.1 Court, No.2 Court and No.3 Court. Most of the time the options will be greyed out. Occasionally they will magically light up when tickets are available. The day I managed to get tickets, I was refreshing the page constantly for about half an hour 😂. Yes, it’s a faff, and you will likely be fed up at all the miserable failed attempts. If you’re motivated and relentless then I am confident you will get tickets through the ballot returns.

For the past two years, my Mum, Sister and I have had a 100% success rate through the returns. In 2025, I managed to get a pair of tickets on the 15th of April so it took about 4 weeks after they opened up the returns. It was hardest for my Sister (who was mentally destroyed by the process) but she got tickets in the end a few weeks before the tournament. There’s normally a big release of returns closer to the tournament so don’t lose faith!

There are a few patterns I noticed on the ballot returns page in 2025. They seemed to release returns every Tuesday, normally from about 10am. I got my tickets late on a Tuesday afternoon between 4 and 5pm. I would advise to go in with a plan of a specific day and court so you can pounce. If they suddenly release tickets and you don’t know what to go for then you will likely miss out as the tickets do not hang around for long. You will often find that when a day appears and you click on it, the tickets will have already been snapped up and it will say not available. Just keep trying. You need to get lucky with the time that you click refresh.

If you do see tickets pop up and when you click on the option you get the “no tickets available”, one tip is to keep refreshing on this particular page. If the person who got their first decides not to buy the tickets then they will become available again. I think this is what happened to me in 2025 when I saw tickets appear for Centre Court day 5. I clicked on them and it said that there were no tickets available. I kept refreshing on this page and then they suddenly appeared as available and I bought them.

Once you have purchased tickets then the ballot returns page will no longer show for you as you are only allowed to purchase one pair of tickets or two single tickets.

The ballot FAQs can be found here.

LTA ballot: The other main option for getting tickets is via the LTA. There are several different membership levels so you need to make sure you pick the right one. The Advantage Fan + option which costs £25 per month gives you the option to enter the LTA ballot. Alternatively, you can join an LTA affiliated tennis club (this is what I do) which will give you the chance to enter the LTA Advantage ballot.

To enter the LTA ballot, you must opt in when advised to by the LTA. For the 2026 tournament, the LTA sent out e-mails on the 22nd July, 2025. To opt in, simply follow the links in your e-mail or log into your LTA account. The opt-in period lasted until the end of August. Post-COVID, i’ve not managed to get tickets via the LTA. The last time I got tickets through this route, I was given a ticket buying window and was able to purchase my desired day/court.

The Queue: If all else fails and you’re not lucky to know someone with debenture seats then the only other way to get tickets is to queue. I’ve never tried this way and never intend to – just not for me! The Wimbledon website has all the details you need for queuing.

Travel to Wimbledon 🚊

Wimbledon encourages the use of public transport to get to SW19. If coming from central London, then you should get off at the Southfields Tube station on the District line which is a 15-minute walk to the venue. We always come from the Wimbledon main line station. Back in the day, we used to queue at Wimbledon station for a bus to the grounds until we realised that we can just walk it. While it is a bit of a hilly route, I would recommend walking if you’re able to. Google Maps says 24 minutes but you can do it in 20 minutes at a swift pace (15 minutes if you leg it 😂).

Entering the grounds 🎾

Tickets are now stored in the Wimbledon app so you must have this downloaded before going. Wimbledon provide detailed instructions via e-mail of how to download the app, access your tickets and transfer them to a guest. We’ve not had any problems since this was introduced. When entering the grounds, you must have your ticket showing on the app and a valid form of photo ID. This can be either a travel card, passport or driving license which shows your personal address.

The grounds open at 10am and there are seven entry gates for ticket holders. We always come from the Wimbledon mainline station and since the crazy COVID year, we’ve always entered through Gate 11a or 12 on the western side of the grounds (see below). We tend to arrive within half an hour of the grounds opening and there’s normally a short queue. In 2025, we waited between 5 to 10 minutes to get our tickets checked. Then it’s straight through security where all bags are checked and you’re in!

Restrictions on what to take into the grounds 🎒

A full list of restrictions can be found on the Wimbledon website. Compared to most tournaments, Wimbledon is pretty lenient in what you can bring. For cameras, you can take lenses up to 300mm. You can take in alcohol if you wish with one bottle of wine/champagne or two cans of beer allowed. There are no restrictions on food and we normally bring our lunch as it’s so expensive around the grounds. The only note with drinks is that if you have a metal or opaque water bottle then this must be empty when arriving. It’s not a problem as there are plenty of places to fill up around the grounds. They occasionally make you sip your drink when checking bags.

Grounds and facilities 🎾

I always get goosebumps walking down Church Road and seeing Centre Court gloriously appear in the distance. I still feel the buzz every year! The grounds are immaculately kept. I don’t if it’s because I have become a gardener post-COVID but the grounds feel greener and prettier every year – I have serious fern and hydrangea envy! It’s definitely not as spacious as say the Australian Open and there are times when the grounds can feel really busy. Centre Court and No.1 Court start so late so around midday most people have arrived and it is overwhelming. After 1pm, the grounds become more bearable.

There are plenty of toilet facilities dotted around the grounds. My favourite men’s toilets (that sounds weird) are the ones near the large scoreboard next to Centre Court as you enter from the southern end. Detals of accessible toilets can be found in the 2025 Ticket Holders’ Handbook.

There are plenty of water stations with many located near toilets. There are quite a few stations underneath Centre Court and No.1 Court. If a match has just finished on Centre Court then you’re better off heading to No.1 Court (if play is ongoing and most of the crowd should be in their seats) to fill up as the queues will be better. There’s a particularly good water station underneath No.1 Court facing Aorangi. The one pictured below is outside No.2 Court.

The courts 🎾

Centre Court

Centre Court tickets are split into three pricing categories: Rows A-T, U-Z and ZA-ZF. Even up in the gods (row ZF is officially the back row) a seat in Centre Court is special. My favourite tennis court in the world 🥰.

We’ve been lucky enough to experience a range of seats from the 100s to the 500s. They now tell you your Gangway prior to purchasing tickets which is helpful although it’s not something you can be too picky about! The best seats will depend on personal preference. Anything in Gangway 100 is fantastic for taking pictures and feeling close to the action. However, they are super expensive and not the best seats with their perspective for actually watching the match; for example the umpire chair might block the view from one side of the court. I really enjoyed our view from Gangway 302 with our 2025 trip which was a nice balance for an unobstructed view – high enough up to get a good view over the entire court and close enough to get some decent pictures.

Seats were upgraded when the roof was installed back in 2009 and are very comfortable compared to most stadiums. The leg space is decent too. Matches under the roof are always special – Sabacanu under the roof in 2025 was probably the best atmosphere that I have ever experienced at Wimbledon.

The lower bowl of the East stand (Gangways 111-114 and 209-210) will be in sun most of the day. There were some scorching hot days in 2025 and there were frequent stoppages for spectators being taken ill. Personally, I would avoid this side (if you can!) particularly if you are sensitive to being in the sun. The west side is better for being in the shade although the seats closest to the court (Gangways 101-107 and 203-204) will be in the sun at the start of play. On the west side, Gangways 203-204 and from row C upwards should be in shade from the start of play at 1:30pm.

No.1 Court

The newly upgraded No.1 Court came into operation during the 2019 Championships with a roof and the same comfortable seats at Centre Court. Like Centre, No.1 Court tickets are split into three pricing categories: Rows A-Q, R-W and X-ZC. We’ve been back row which is row ZC and I don’t think the view is bad at all. During the COVID year, we were row B and it was one of my favourite Wimby experiences of all time.

There’s not really much more to add about No.1 Court – it’s a great court to watch tennis and the atmosphere is always fantastic. It never comes across fully on TV! If the roof is on and there is heavy rain then the sound is immense – I wonder how the players can focus 🤔.

Like Centre Court, the lower bowl of the East stand (Gangways 8, 12, 6, 10 and 14) will be in sun most of the day. The west side is always better for being in the shade although the seats closest to the court will be in the sun for a good chunk of the day before the sun moves round.

No.2 Court

The sunken nature of No.2 Court provides a superb view for all – there really isn’t a bad seat! It’s a bit out of the way situated in the South of the grounds. It can get very busy at the ends of matches as the passages outside the court are quite narrow. I think the Wimbledon Master Plan will help to increase the space around No.2 Court in the future.

In 2025, this court was all reserved seating and you needed a designated No.2 Court ticket to get in. It’s a real shame because I will always favour buying tickets for Centre and No.1 over No.2 Court simply for having the security of a roof and uninterrupted play in the event of rain. With the next phase of development at SW19, I think Court No.2 will become unreserved which I can’t wait for! There are toilets at the southern end and eastern side of the court.

No.3 Court

Much like No.2 Court, there isn’t a bad seat in No.3 Court. The left-hand picture below is from the front row of the North end – note that row F is the front row in this stand. It’s the biggest court you can get on with a grounds pass with only about 25% of seats reserved at the northern end of the court.

In recent years, we’ve found that if you turn up 10 minutes before the first match of the day at 11am then you should have no problem getting a seat. If you want a front row seat then you’ll need to go in earlier. You’re more likely to see long queues to get into No.3 Court if you try to enter during a match and before Centre and No.1 Court begin so between 12 and 1pm. I would recommend trying to access the court by the west end (entrances 8 and 9) as it tends to be quieter than the main thoroughfare that runs by the side of the east end. There are toilets underneath the southern end of No.3 Court.

Court 12

This is probably my least favourite court. There is a big temporary stand so you can often get a seat although again, I’d recommend going in at the end of sets or matches. It can take a while to get people in during standard changeovers even if there are empty seats. We’ve had to wait a while to get into Court 12 simply because there is limited time and space to get people in and out during changeovers.

It’s not the most enjoyable place to watch tennis with little leg space and I’ve had experiences later in the day where the stands were packed with rubbish because some people are vile. I watched a match here in 2018, sat close to court 8, and while I had a great view across the grounds and other outside courts, I felt a bit disengaged from the actual tennis on court 12.

Court 18

Court 18 is legendary. I love watching from the roof as it gives a unique angle that you don’t get from many other courts in the world. There’s a great view across the grounds. It has become harder over the years to watch from the roof and it’s been a few years since I’ve watched a match here. You have to walk up the steps adjacent to Henman Hill and then veer to the left towards the Hill Lawn and the ticket resales. There’s a decent sized stand behind the court which you should be able to get seats in at the ends of sets and matches. There are also two banks of seating with three rows either side of the court.

Court 14

I’ve never watched a match on Court 14 as it’s always packed! It’s on the main thoroughfare between Centre Court and No.1 Court so catches a lot of passing traffic with people tending to congregate at the entrance to the court. The only pictures I’ve got from court 14 have been through a crowd of people.

Courts 15-17

These three courts are located between Centre Court and No.1 Court and are generally less busy than the outside courts at the southern end of the grounds. There are three rows of seats on either side of each court. I have found Court 17 is the easiest of the trio to access and we have watched the likes of Milos Raonic, Karolina Pliskova, Naomi Osaka, Sam Stosur and Jessica Pegula here in the past.

You can tend to get a seat on the east side as it’s slightly hidden. There are no stewards so be mindful not to just wander in during play. These are bog standard seats with limited legroom. They are great seats for feeling close to the action. If you’re in the front row and short like me, you’ll need to sit up straight to see above the rope!

Courts 4-11

At the southern end of the grounds, courts 4, 7, 8 and 11 all have one small stand of seating on one side, while courts 5, 6, 9 and 10 have only benches on either sides. Quite a few of these spaces are reserved for those with credentials. Before No.1 Court and Centre Court start at 1pm and 1:30pm respectively, this area of the grounds tends to be rammed. Just walking between these courts can be a challenge. There is a kind of charm to watching tennis on these outside courts though and I love watching matches here in the early evening with the sun setting.

Practice courts

Access to watching players practice at Aorangi is currently poor. Close to gate 1d, there is a walkway to Aorangi to a public viewing area for five courts. There is often a queue along the walkway which is controlled by security as space is restricted. This queue can be long in the morning and we have waited up to 15 minutes before. It’s normally quite cramped and taking pictures is difficult, often through fences and netting. If you don’t make it down there then you’ve not missed anything special!

The best opportunity to see players practising is before play commences on the outside courts, normally in the south end of the grounds on courts 4 to 11. In 2025, we found Sonay Kartal warming up on Court 7 at about 10:30am. There were few people watching so we managed to sit on one of the benches. Fingers crossed for some improvements in the years to come as Wimbledon are way behind the US Open and Australian Open for watching player practices. I’m hoping there will be better options for watching player practices with the Wimbledon Master Plan.

Food and drink 🍓🍹

There are numerous places to buy food and drink around the grounds – these include the Walled Garden, the Tea Lawn and the Southern Village. You can find a summary of the food and drink options at Wimbledon from the 2025 Ticket Holders Handbook.

The main staple of a Wimbledon trip has to be the strawberries and cream. Since 2024, they are packed in a cardboard box with a dollop of cream. There is a vegan cream option too. Note that you should eat these as soon as possible. We had a cream based disaster on a hot day this year where we didn’t get round to eating them immediately and the packaging began to fail 🙃. The price increased from £2.50 to £2.70 in 2025 but it’s still the best value food purchase you’ll find at Wimby and they are delicious.

There is a designated strawberries and cream store at the Tea Lawn (East side of Centre Court) and you’ll find them in the larder in the Walled Garden. In 2025, Wimbledon introduced the Frictionless store in the Walled Garden Larder (down the stairs) and we tried it to buy strawberries (p16 of the 2025 Ticket Holders’ Handbook). At the entrance, you scan your card or payment device and then the gate opens allowing you to enter the store. You pick up what you want and then simply walk out. Everyone was hesitant to leave as it felt odd not physically paying! There are 50 cameras with AI technology which help to process your purchase. It was great as in previous years we went on a hunt to find somewhere to buy strawberries and spent ages in queues. Note that if you spend less than £7 you will initially be charged £7 but this will eventually update to the correct amount.

A Pimm’s Cup every year is also a tradition but it’s bloody expensive! In 2025 it cost £12.25 which includes the cup – i’ve got hundreds of the cups at home 😂. They do a recycling scheme but i’ve never really figured it out. We’ve found the best place to buy a Pimms is at the bar in the Walled Garden. Try to time it when Centre Court and No.1 Court have started and matches are in play so after 1:30pm.

We stayed late in 2025 for the Sabacanu match and had to buy hot food for the first time. We always bring sandwiches and our own food as it’s cheaper and more convenient. Buying hot food was not a pleasant experience! I queued for ten minutes in the Walled Garden Food Market to buy a chicken burger with a portion of fries. This cost £19.05 (!!!) which was daylight robbery considering it’s a bog standard UPF chicken burger. The burger is already packaged so I don’t know if they can address any dietary needs. Back in 2023, my sister asked whether the chicken burger had a sauce (the menu didn’t say it had a sauce) which it did. She asked for it without the sauce but they said they could not accommodate this as it was busy. My brother was also warned about taking a pizza into Centre Court which seemed to be a new thing for 2025 – I would advise to hide any hot food in your bag before taking it into the court!

Shopping 🛍️

There are two flagship stores on the South East corners of both Centre Court and No.1 Court. I think the No.1 Court shop is bigger and less cramped. In 2024 we did an absolute raid of the No.1 Court shop and stocked up on some new Wimby memorabilia. I love the trophy key chains which are expensive at £10 but excellent quality. I bought a drinking bottle in 2024 which two people asked me about when I was filling up my bottle at Wimbledon in 2025 – from a snoop on the website it looks like they no longer sell it which is a shame. In 2025, the queues outside the shop were long so we never made it in. They do everything you could imagine but prices are steeeeep.

Final thoughts 💭

If you are a hardcore tennis fan then you’ve got to do Wimbledon at least once in your lifetime if you can! It’s such a special place. There are certainly some flaws in the ticketed courts, practice courts and general space which i’m hoping will get addressed with the Wimbledon Master Plan… but it’s Wimbledon! I can’t wait for my next Wimbledon adventure…

If you have any questions about Wimbledon, i’d be more than happy to help. You can comment in this post or send me an e-mail at MooTennisBlog@gmail.com