0.000006%. That is the percentage of the world’s population that is able to be a member of the most famous tennis club in the world – the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, host of The Wimbledon Championships. The exclusivity of the club is not due to the cost of membership – which is reported to be as little as a few hundred pounds per year. Rather, it stems from a tradition that goes back a staggering 150 years. If you are lucky enough to visit Wimbledon, London, and tour the premises, the guide will explain to you that the easiest way to become a member is to win the Singles Grand Slam tournament… that’s the easiest way. In this post, we’ll dive into the specifics of the other ways to join the club, which are also extremely difficult.
All England Tennis Club Coat of Arms
Membership at AELTC consists of 5 categories:
Full Member
Life Member
Honorary Member
Temporary Member
Junior Temporary Member
Honorary Members include “past Singles Champions, other eminent Lawn Tennis players, benefactors of the Club or The Championships, and other persons who have rendered special service to Lawn Tennis.” To become a Full or Life Member, you must start as a Temporary or a Junior Temporary Member and remain active in the club for several years before earning promotion to a permanent title.
There are a total of 500 permanent members in the Full, Life, and Honorary categories, as well as 120 Temporary and Junior Temporary Members at any given time. If we think about those 500 permanent members, they are generally not replaced until they pass away. As a quick exercise, if we assume 10 of the 500 permanent members are replaced per year, it could take 12 years for certain temporary members to be promoted to permanent (120 divided by 10)! It could even take longer, as once 10 of the 120 graduate to permanent membership, 10 more replace them. Since we can only assume that the most social and active members will be promoted to permanent membership status, there is sure to be somewhat of a competitive dynamic among the temporary members.
An aeriel view of the All England Tennis Club
Earning permanent membership is extremely difficult, but even earning temporary membership status is no easy feat. To become a temporary member, you must receive letters of recommendation from 4 full members, 2 of which must have known you for at least 3 years. Following submission of these letters, you’re added to the “candidates’ list”, which is just the name for their official waiting list. Generally, recommendation letters are only given out to British tennis players.
If this does not already sound impossible, the club is touted to have a waitlist with over 1,000 people who are all eager to earn a temporary membership status. Therefore, it would take the newest candidates over 100 years to become a temporary member (1000 divided by 10), assuming that the membership committee goes in order.
To summarize, your best shot at becoming a member is one of the following:
Beat Jannik Sinner in the finals of Wimbledon
Donate millions of pounds to the Club
Marry Prince George
Convince 4 full members to write recommendation letters for your child once they turn 3 years old, so they can become a member by the time they are 103 (if luck is on their side)
All jokes aside, there is one other, slightly “easier” way to become a member – this being achieving the status of a top-ranking British junior, under the Junior Temporary categorization. Logically, the Club wants a healthy reserve of young players, in case any of them end up breaking through on the tour. Get practicing, young British tennis pro hopefuls!
Leave a comment down below if you’ve been to the grounds before / what you enjoyed about them the most! Also, put your Wimbledon knowledge to the test below:
Who of the following is a patron of the AETC?
Meghan Markle
Kate Middleton
Princess Charlotte
Works Cited
About the AELTC. Wimbledon.com. (n.d.). https://www.wimbledon.com/en_gb/atoz/about_aeltc.html
Mata, W. (2023, July 4). “the easiest way is to win”: How to become a member of Wimbledon Tennis Club. The Standard.
Newcomb, T. (2016b, May 27). Worple Road to church road: History of the Wimbledon Grounds. SI. https://www.si.com/tennis/2016/05/27/history-of-wimbledon-grounds-all-england-lawn-tennis-club
Rossingh, D. (2017, June 29). Want to become a Wimbledon member? win it (or marry a prince). Forbes.
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