Wimbledon millionaires sneak off with towels

And the world’s best player is not the only one happily stashing away the towels which can be bought from the All England Club shop for $35 apiece. 

“I try to sneak in an extra towel here and there during the match, using the excuse that it’s too warm and I’m sweating,” said the Wimbledon champion in 2011, 2014 and 2015. 

“I’m sure the All England Club Committee will forgive me for that extra towel per match.” 

He added: “It makes a lot of people happy back in my country, the ones that are close to me. It’s great memorabilia.” 

German star Dustin Brown, who famously knocked out Rafael Nadal last year but earns a relatively modest living mostly on the second-tier Challenger circuit, said the temptation was too great. 

“Well, I mean, you have a lot of friends. Either you pay £40 for it or take them off the court and give them to your friends. That’s the answer to that,” Brown said. 

The company which produces the towels, Christy, once supplied Queen Victoria. Now most of their production is carried out in Gujarat in India.

Back in 2013, they supplied 99,000 towels to the championships. Many left over at the end of the fortnight were often gifted to the army of employees and volunteers who work at the tournament. 

“(They) are much revered by the players and fans alike,” the company, founded in 1850, admitted on its website. 

Players admit that friends and families often deluge them with requests to bring home a towel, although they often have to resist the pleas of fans who wait patiently courtside for a towel to be thrown their way. 

“The first round is for me, the second round is for these people. Always, when I go out of the court, the fans ask for the towels. I say, Sorry, it’s booked already,” said popular French player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. 

Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic has a different dilemma and is unable to say how many she has collected from her 12 visits to the All England Club. But she has a good reason. “Well, since I don’t really have a home, I don’t know.”