LONDON — It might just be the best deal in all of major professional sports: Tennis fans can get a chance to watch stars such as Carlos Alcaraz compete on Centre Court at Wimbledon by forking over just 15 pounds — about $20 at the current exchange rate.
That's instead of Friday's price of nearly $220 for the best seats at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament's biggest stadium. Face value there rises as the event goes on, hitting nearly $370 by the end of Week 2, then going up again for the singles finals.
The secret to saving so much cash? The official resale service. It allows anyone already on-site with a ticket to sign up via the Wimbledon app for a daily lottery to get into one of the top three courts at a cut rate, including about $13 each for No. 1 Court or No. 2 Court.
Those spots are offered up to the All England Club by spectators who leave before play ends.
Wimbledon offers cheap tickets to its biggest courts when fans leave early
''It's an elite tournament in terms of the players, but it's not elite to get in, which is part of the appeal,'' said Ed Hogan, a retired 69-year-old from Reading, which is a little more than an hour west of Wimbledon. ''The concept of resales is great. It's recycling at its best — sharing the joy.''
The All England Club wouldn't say how many tickets get resold.
''We're selling the same ticket twice,'' said the club's operations manager, Michelle Dite, ''and the primary reason is to make tennis as accessible to as many people as possible.''