Wimbledon's special day
Monday. The most groan-worthy day of the week. After the marvels of a soothing weekend, no Monday could possibly have anything to recommend it.
Wrong. In fact, fabulously wrong. The secret to a magical, marvellous, majestic, mesmerising, merry, miraculous, momentous and above all Manic Monday is to be found only at Wimbledon.
No other Grand Slam pauses for a day of rest on the middle Sunday – and none except Wimbledon thrillingly schedules every fourth round contest of the ladies' and gentlemen's singles for the second Monday. It is as if The Championships press the re-set button, with the brief hiatus only amplifying the drama to follow.
Every player who eventually reaches the quarter-finals at Wimbledon is funnelled through via this unique piece of scheduling. For the sheer quantity of elite tennis, it is the busiest day in the calendar of any tournament on the planet – and for many, the best day anywhere.
Keen mathematicians will already be calculating that 16 matches require at least five courts if all is to be concluded by the time dusk descends, and that fact encapsulates the day’s inimitable wonder. On Manic Monday, it’s almost impossible to turn round in SW19 without bumping into yet another court where some key clash is about to unfold.
So if you have tickets for Centre or No.1 Courts – well, great, obviously. But the key point on Manic Monday is that every ticket is gold. Got Grounds passes? Congratulations! Last year, no less a grande dame than Vogue’s Anna Wintour (an actual Dame, in fact) was observed politely queueing for No.3 Court to see Tomas Berdych fight it out with Dominic Thiem. So make like Dame Anna and brush up on the day’s Order of Play as soon as it’s out in order to perfect your Manic Monday tactical schedule.
Truly, this most special of days is tennis Christmas – one great big present to every person in the Grounds, just waiting to be unwrapped. Each year, it’s a racing certainty that several journalists reporting on The Championships make it their quest to witness some part of all 16 singles matches played – a logistical masterpiece, if ever there was one.
Whatever your plans for Manic Monday, it’s what Hollywood would call boffo box office – one of Wimbledon’s defining characteristics, and an icon famous across the entire game.
"I would say it’s the best day of tennis that you can see,” opines 2010 finalist Tomas Berdych. “I think if anybody asked me for a day that they want to go to the tennis, I would say the second Monday of Wimbledon because you see men’s, women’s, you see last 16. So you can also go to the ground courts and you’re still going to see a great match up. I think it’s the best day in tennis."
Three-time champion Novak Djokovic is in total agreement.
"It's unlike other Grand Slams,” he says, underling a fact true in so many ways. “Wimbledon is unique because it’s not played on middle Sunday. So Monday is a big day for all the players, both men and women. It is even more so for the tournament and fans. It’s one of the days where you can get probably the most quality matches, both singles and doubles, men and women, that you can have throughout the entire tournament.”
For those wondering which clever person came up with the idea of borrowing the title of The Bangles’ 1986 hit and applying the name to the second Monday of Wimbledon… The splendidly-named Thomas Bonk, former tennis writer with the Los Angeles Times, is the chap credited, using the expression in a June 1992 report from the All England Club.
“I wish it was Sunday,” warbled The Bangles. “That’s my fun day.”
Nonsense. Keep up, ladies. For the very definition of fun, Wimbledon’s Manic Monday is where it’s at.
