From pineapples to perfection: The fascinating history of Wimbledon's trophies
“These are probably some of the most famous trophies in the world.”
LONDON -- Every summer, a total of 256 men and women -- a group of the best tennis player’s this world has to offer -- make their way to the London postcode of SW19 and onto the courts of Wimbledon to battle it out in an attempt to be the last person standing and a potential claim to be the best in the world at the sport.
The prize? A few moments on the world stage with Gentlemen’s Singles Challenge Cup for the winning man or the Ladies’ Singles Challenge Plate -- more commonly known at the Venus Rosewater Dish -- something only a few dozen people in the world have ever done in the history of the 157-year-old tournament.
“I think why these trophies are so iconic and special is because they are so consistent, truly historic, and I think they really sort of parallel what Wimbledon is about,” Eleanor Thomas, the Collections Manager at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, told ABC News during a visit during the middle Sunday of the 2024 Championships. “They have remained true to Wimbledon’s roots since the beginning.”
The Gentleman's Singles Trophy, officially known as the Challenge Cup, is perhaps the most storied prize in all of tennis.
"This trophy has a history that dates back to 1887, crafted by Elkington & Co. in Birmingham," explains Thomas, who added that the company's expertise in metalwork at that time made them a perfect choice for crafting a trophy meant to symbolize excellence and perseverance in tennis.
Before Wimbledon formally started in 1877, the winners of the Championships received a trophy known as the Field Cup. It was agreed back then that anyone who won The Championships three years in a row should keep the trophy. William Renshaw managed this from 1881 to 1883 -- so he kept it and a new trophy had to be made. The Field Cup was subsequently replaced with a new Challenge Cup but William Renshaw won three times in a row – again -- from 1884 to 1886 and kept this too.
It was then that the club decided to create a “perpetual” trophy in 1887 and the Challenge Cup, which is the current iteration of the men’s singles trophy, was introduced with the intent to last indefinitely.
It has since carried the names of every single champion dating back to the first Wimbledon tournament in 1877 until 2009, when they officially ran out of space for any more engravings.
“We ran out of space on the trophy for all the winners,” Thomas laughed as she explained the dilemma. “So it was decided that adding a plinth to the existing trophy was the best way of preserving all those names and that has been arguably the biggest change to the trophy since its inception.”
One of the more distinctive features of the Gentleman's Singles Trophy is the fact that there is a pineapple adorning the very top of it.
“So the pineapple, to be honest, we don't actually have an exact reason as to why it's there,” Thomas told ABC News. "The pineapple was a symbol of luxury and hospitality in the Victorian era, something only the wealthy could afford. Historically, it was a popular motif at the time, but it doesn't really have anything to do with Wimbledon or tennis. It does now, obviously.”
The Gentleman's Singles Trophy stands in stark contrast to what the women receive when they win the Wimbledon women’s singles title -- the Venus Rosewater Dish.
"Unlike the men's trophy, the Venus Rosewater Dish reflects a tradition of awarding more decorative prizes to women," Thomas explains. “Early women's prizes included flower baskets and bracelets, but the dish has since transcended these to become a symbol of achievement in its own right.”
Introduced in 1886, the dish's design draws heavily on Renaissance art and features a central figure of Temperance surrounded by representations of the four elements -- air, water, earth, and fire. The outer rim is adorned with plaques representing the Seven Liberal Arts – grammar, logic, rhetoric, music, arithmetic, geometry and astrology -- each overseen by the goddess Minerva, the intricate iconography intended to showcase the intellectual and artistic aspirations of the late 19th century.
Champions' names have been engraved on the dish since its inception, initially on the front but moving to the back when the trophy ran out of room and, much like the men’s trophy in 2009, the names are now engraved on a plinth that was added in 2016 once the trophy ran out of space on the back.
However, just like the gentleman's singles trophy, winners do not actually get to take the original home, or even a full-sized replica. They spend time with the award on the court after the tournament when they celebrate and at the Wimbledon champions’ dinner on the last night. That’s it.
What winners will receive, however, is a three-quarter-sized replica, meticulously engraved with their names on it, exactly like the real thing only smaller.
The engravings -- both on the replicas and the real trophy -- are almost instantaneous, something Wimbledon does deliberately and takes a great amount of pride in. Thomas, along with her colleague, Malin Lundin, oversees this meticulous process.
"We manage about 84 engravings during the championships, including the main trophies and the replicas given to the players," said Thomas.
The second the winning point is scored, a team of expert engravers gets right down to work so that the trophies are ready for the victors almost immediately. This doesn’t just happen for the men’s and women’s singles champions, the practice extends to include every single winner in each of the events held at Wimbledon, including doubles, mixed doubles, and wheelchair events, ensuring that every winner's achievement is immortalized from the moment of victory.
Once the trophies are handed out and then given back to the All England Club in exchange for their replicas, Thomas will turn to her work of preserving these historical artifacts through rigorous conservation efforts.
"We have a dedicated team of conservators who clean and polish the trophies annually. This ensures they remain in pristine condition despite their age and the wear from being handled by champions," Thomas explained, adding that these trophies not only honor the achievements of the world's best players, but also serve as a reminder of Wimbledon’s unwavering commitment to its heritage.
As the final ball is struck and The Championships come to a close for another year, Wimbledon’s trophies are deliberately designed to endure for decades and centuries to come, the iconic awards meticulously preserved, intricately engraved and always embodying the rich history and traditions of The Championships.
“These are probably some of the most famous trophies in the world,” said Thomas. “It’s a big deal.”