Wimbledon broke attendance record despite World Cup clash
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - June 30, 2026 General view inside the stadium of the first round match between Serena Williams of the U.S. and Australia's Maya Joint REUTERS/Toby Melville
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Wimbledon enjoyed a record attendance and generated
nearly 5 billion social media "impressions" despite
competition from the soccer World Cup, the
All England Club said on Wednesday.
A cumulative 550,151 fans passed through the gates
during the fortnight, slightly up on 2025, with
many purchasing
tickets on the day via Wimbledon's famous
queue.
Daily attendance records were set on three
separate days during the championships.
Organisers credited the
bumper figures to the first rain-free Wimbledon since 2019 and the unexpected
semi-final run of British wildcard Arthur
Fery, which helped offset potential viewer losses
to the World Cup.
The tournament's commercial appeal was evident
in
retail figures, with a record 117,995 hats sold across the fortnight.
Broadcasting numbers were also high, with ESPN
reporting it was the second-most-viewed
Wimbledon championships of all
time. The tournament's social media following grew by 11% across all
platforms.
The all-Czech women's singles final between
Linda
Noskova and Karolina Muchova proved particularly popular in the Czech Republic,
where Eurosport sub-licensed coverage to
free-to-air
broadcaster Prima. The match attracted a 38.5%
audience share and peaked at 900,000 viewers.

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