The2003 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on Grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom.[1][2] It was the 117th edition of theWimbledon Championships and were held from 23 June to 6 July 2003. It was the thirdGrand Slam tennis event of the year.
Lleyton Hewitt was unsuccessful in his 2002 title defence, being upset in the first round by Grand Slam debutantIvo Karlović. It was the first time in the Open Era history of Wimbledon that a defending champion had lost in the first round, the second time overall. This Wimbledon was notable for beingRoger Federer's first grand slam victory when he defeatedMark Philippoussis in the final. This would be the first of five consecutive Wimbledon titles for Federer, and eight overall.[3]Serena Williams successfully defended her 2002 title, defeating her sisterVenus in the final for the second consecutive year. The 2003 Championships were also the first time that bowing to theRoyal Box onCentre Court was no longer required by the players.
Broadcast coverage of the 2003 Championships was distributed to 159 territories worldwide and the tournament received more than 5,717 hours of coverage. This was an increase of 565 hours from the 2002 figure and surpassed all previous records for the event. The BBC transmitted 160 hours of coverage in the United Kingdom on BBC One and BBC Two. The official Championships website www.wimbledon.org received 242 million page views and 4.3 million visitors.[4]
Prior to the start of the 2003 Championships, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club announced that it would begin purchasing insurance cover that would allow the club to cover losses in the event that afuture tournament would be canceled as a result of apandemic; this policy was announced in the wake of theSARS outbreak and required the club to pay £1.6 million per year.[5]
The total prize money for 2003 championships was £9,373,990. The winner of the men's title earned £575,000 while the women's singles champion earned £535,000.[6][7]
It was Federer's 5th title of the year, and his 9th overall. It was his 1st career Grand Slam title. He became the first Swiss male player to win a Grand Slam singles title. It was the first, in what was to become 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles, and 8 overall. It was also the first Grand Slam title of the 20 won by Federer through the course of his career, a third place for the most Grand Slam singles titles in the history of the men's game.
Roger Federer
Serena Williams
Jonas Björkman /
Todd Woodbridge
Kim Clijsters /
Ai Sugiyama
Leander Paes /
Florin Mergea
Alisa Kleybanova /
Max Mirnyi, 3–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–4), 6–3[10]
Virginia Ruano Pascual /
Paola Suárez, 6–4, 6–4[11]
Andy Ram /
Kateřina Böhmová /
Michaëlla Krajicek, 2–6, 6–3, 6–2[16]
