The Wimbledon Championships is one of the oldest sports tournaments in the world, with rules and regulations in place for anything from the clothes you wear the moment players enter the courts. But funnily enough, there’s nothing in the rulebook for the ink on your skin.
The day-to-day operations of The Championships are led and conducted by the All England Lawn Tennis Club – or AELTC – an institution, first established in 1868, that is steeped in history. The AELTC is responsible for organising and overseeing the annual Grand Slam tournament, and as such, implements strict rules to maintain its pedigree and traditions.
Players are required to follow the strict rules set by the Championships, much like the strict clothing rules that require competitors to be “dressed in suitable tennis attire that is almost entirely white* and this applies from the point at which the player enters the court surround.”
Whatever your view on the long-held rule, it’s one that has become synonymous with Wimbledon, leading many to believe it has too many rules and restrictions for a modern era… But funnily enough, there’s no mention of tattoos in the rulebook.
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Czech tennis star Marketa Vondrousova made history as the first unseeded player to win the tournament after downing Ons Jabeur on Saturday, lifting her first Wimbledon title in straight sets to take home a record-breaking prize fund for 2023.
But before the final had even been played, Vondrousa had been dominating the Wimbledon discussions with her collection of unique and interesting tattoos. Dotted around her body like a tennis court after a Hawk-Eye challenge, Vondrousova’s tattoos all share a similar message to the Wimbledon finalist – one of hope and perseverance.
After getting her first tattoo aged 16 in Prague, some of Vondrousova’s ink is purely aesthetic, but after suffering a wrist injury in the French Open in 2019, Vondrousova found new meaning in her tattoos, able to recover well and return to the court, following her mantra “No rain, No flowers” a message that has been eternalised on her body.
Vondrousova already has plans for her next tat, with an agreement in place with her coach that he has to get the Wimbledon logo tattooed on his body after she won her first title this weekend.
“If I win a Grand Slam, he’s going to get one, so I hope I will,” Vondrousova said after beating Elina Svitolina in the semi-finals.