Wimbledon has three ticketed show courts, Centre Court, No.1 Court and No.2 Court, and a wider grounds that is accessible on a ground pass rather than a reserved seat. Centre Court seats 14,979 people and No.1 Court 12,345 people, and both have retractable roofs. Where you sit at Wimbledon comes down to three decisions, in order: which court you are ticketed for, which level within that court, and which side of the bowl you end up on. This guide works through each of those in turn, court by court.
How Wimbledon ticketing works
There is no general on-sale for Wimbledon. Every route to a seat falls into one of two categories.
Reserved show court tickets get you into Centre Court, No.1 Court or No.2 Court for a specific day. These are obtained through the public ballot, through official resale once tickets have been allocated, through the resale of a debenture ticket, or through a travel package that includes one. A reserved ticket also acts as your ground pass. It admits you to the wider grounds and the outside courts, on the same day, before and after your match.
Ground passes work differently. They are not reserved seats, and they cannot be bought online in advance at all. The only way to get one is to join The Queue in person, on the day. A ground pass gives you the grounds and the outside courts, but not the three show courts.
Of these routes, the public ballot is the most democratic and the least certain: entries open the previous autumn, and most applicants are unsuccessful. Debenture resale and a travel package both trade that uncertainty for a guaranteed seat on a chosen day, at a cost that reflects the guarantee.
Wimbledon seat prices vary by court, level and day, and change from year to year. Our team can talk you through current pricing for the court and day you have in mind.
Centre Court: capacity, levels and where to sit
Centre Court seats 14,979 people. It is the third-largest show court of the four Grand Slams, behind Arthur Ashe at the US Open and Philippe Chatrier at Roland-Garros. It has had a retractable roof since 2009, and the surface remains natural grass throughout, right up to the final point of The Championships.
Centre Court hosts both singles finals. Play starts at 1:30pm for the first twelve days of The Championships, then moves earlier, to 1pm, across finals weekend.
Public seating runs across four levels: 100, 200, 300 and 500. There is no public Level 400, a detail worth knowing before you trust a resale listing that mentions one.
The 100 level is the lowest tier and the closest to the court, but it forms a horseshoe rather than a full ring. It is open across the south end, where the Royal Box sits, so there is no 100-level seating directly behind it. The 200 and 300 levels run on from each other without a physical break in the rows, so “lower tier” and “upper tier” are not reliable shorthand on Centre Court. The level number is what to read on a ticket or a resale listing, not the tier name. The 500 level sits highest, under the frame of the retractable roof.
The court runs north to south, which puts the sidelines on the east and west stands. Neither player serves into a low sun, the standard orientation for a competition tennis court.
Put simply, each level offers a different trade-off between proximity and perspective. The 100 level sits closest to the action and gives the most intimate view of the tennis, but it is ballot and Queue seating only, not for sale and not transferable. The 200 level holds most of the debenture band and sits at a natural eye line with the play. The 300 level runs on from it with a slightly wider, more panoramic angle, and the front rows share much of the same character as the 200 level below. The 500 level, highest of the four, trades proximity for coverage: it sits under the roof frame and offers a full view of the bowl.
| Level | View | Sun and shade | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | Closest to the court, most intimate view | Some early sun in places | Ballot and Queue seating only, not for sale |
| 200 | Eye level with play, most of the debenture band | Southwest sections shadiest, northeast sunniest early | The heart of Centre Court’s debenture seating |
| 300 | Slightly higher, wider view of the bowl | Similar pattern to 200; front rows share its cover | Runs on from 200 without a physical break |
| 500 | Highest tier, full panoramic view | Under the roof frame, shaded most of the day | Most reliable seat to book if avoiding sun matters |
One further fixed point orients everything else on this court: the Royal Box. It holds 74 seats at the front of the southern stand, and every one of them is filled by invitation from the Chairman of the All England Club. It has never been sold. When a resale listing or a seating guide says a seat is “near the Royal Box,” this is the point of reference.
No.1 Court: capacity and where to sit
No.1 Court deserves its own consideration. It is a genuine show court in its own right, built to the same modern standard, and it answers to a slightly different set of numbers.
Its capacity is 12,345 people, a little over 2,600 fewer than Centre Court, which is part of what gives it a more intimate feel. It has had a retractable roof of its own since 2019, a decade after Centre Court’s roof arrived, which brought it into line for weather protection.
Play here starts at 1pm, half an hour earlier than Centre Court on a normal day, and moves to 11am on finals weekend, when the schedule tightens across both courts.
No.1 Court hosts quarterfinals and a heavy schedule of high-profile matches throughout the fortnight, and in the first week it frequently carries as much star power as Centre Court itself.
It is more compact than Centre Court, so seats lower in the bowl feel closer to the action rather than overwhelming, a genuine point in its favour for a first-time visitor. The sun pattern mirrors Centre Court: the east side comes out of the sun first in the morning, and the west side stays shadier through the afternoon.
For the value-conscious buyer, the argument is straightforward. No.1 Court offers a comparable standard of tennis to Centre Court at a lower price, and that gap is at its widest in the first week, before the draw narrows and Centre Court’s schedule fills with the biggest remaining names.
More buyers are looking past Centre Court by default these days, and for good reason. A seat on No.1 Court still guarantees a show court view of top-tier tennis, still comes with ground pass access to the wider grounds, and still sits inside a stadium built to the same modern standard as Centre Court itself, just on a more intimate scale.
Debenture seats: where they sit
Wimbledon Debenture Tickets Explained covers what a debenture is and how it works. Here you’ll find where the seats sit.
Centre Court debenture seats occupy rows A to N, wrapping the court roughly in line with the Royal Box. No.1 Court debenture seats occupy rows A to Q.
Because the 200 and 300 levels run on from each other without a break, the debenture band on Centre Court sits behind and around the mid tier rather than in its own separate tier. It shares the same vantage point as the general seating around it, reserved specifically for debenture ticket holders.
Many Centre Court debenture seats look diagonally across the court rather than square along the baseline or sideline. Regular attendees tend to rate that angle as a strength, not a compromise, and it is close to the view from many broadcast camera positions.
Holders keep the same seat numbers for the duration of each year’s Championships, but are allocated a different location within the debenture band in each of the five years of the series.
Ground passes and the outside courts
A ground pass admits you to the wider grounds and gives unreserved seating on the outside courts: No.3 Court and Courts 4 to 18, on a first-come basis. It does not admit you to Centre Court, No.1 Court or No.2 Court. Those three are exclusively ticketed, and a ground pass will not get you through their gates.
What it does include: Henman Hill and the big screens, the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, the food stalls and the shops, and hours of tennis on the outside courts before the show courts even open.
Ground passes cannot be bought online in advance, at any price. The only way to get one is to join The Queue in person, on the day.
Once inside, there is a second route to a show court seat. A resale kiosk inside the grounds sells tickets returned by spectators leaving early, from mid-afternoon, at a low fixed price, with proceeds going to charity.
The grounds are larger than most visitors expect: 18 championship grass courts used during The Championships, 20 further grass practice courts and 8 clay courts, 46 courts in total.
The trade-off is worth stating plainly rather than arguing it. A ground pass is the cheapest way into Wimbledon, and it gives close access to top players in the first week, when many are still playing on the outside courts. It also means queueing from early morning, with no guarantee of a show court seat that day, and no guarantee the queue moves fast enough to get you in at all on a popular day. Which one suits you depends on what you are optimising for, certainty or price.
Sun, shade and the roof
Both Centre Court and No.1 Court run north to south, so the sun tracks across the sidelines through the day rather than into either player’s eyes. That same orientation decides where the shade falls for spectators.
The east side of the bowl comes out of the sun first in the morning. The west side stays shadier through the afternoon, which matters more the later your session runs.
On Centre Court, the 500 level sits under the frame of the retractable roof and is shaded for most of the day. If avoiding the sun is the priority, it is the most reliable seat to book.
The roof itself, open or closed, does not obstruct the view from any seat on Centre Court. Its only effect on where you sit is shade, not sightline.
With the roof closed, play can continue right up to the 11pm curfew, worth building into your return travel if you are flying out that evening.
No.2 Court has no roof, and play there can be suspended in rain.
For anyone flying a long way for a single session, rain is a genuine and understandable worry beforehand. On Centre Court and No.1 Court, the honest answer is that it barely matters. Both courts play through rain as a matter of course, and a delay on either one is a rare event rather than an expected one.
Where Keith Prowse Travel seats you
The 200-level sideline band is widely regarded as the best seat on Centre Court, closer to the action than the panoramic upper tiers, without the compromises of the very front rows. That is the band Keith Prowse Travel books.
Our Centre Court packages place you in 200 or 300-level seating, some of it on the same level as the Royal Box. Our No.1 Court packages place you within 15 rows of the court, close enough that some seats sit directly behind the players’ boxes.
The choice between the two courts rarely comes down to tennis quality alone. Both stage genuine Championship tennis on a retractable-roof show court, so the decision is really about atmosphere, budget and how much weight you put on Centre Court’s status as the tournament’s home ground.
If you are ready to choose your court, our Wimbledon 2027 travel packages can get you started.
FAQs
Where are the best seats on Centre Court?
The 200-level sideline band is widely regarded as the best. For shade, book the 500 level.
What’s the difference between Centre Court and No.1 Court?
Centre Court seats 14,979 and No.1 Court seats 12,345, so No.1 Court feels more intimate. Both have retractable roofs.
Can I buy a Wimbledon ground pass online?
No. Ground passes can only be obtained by joining The Queue in person on the day.
