The Championships, Wimbledon is one of the biggest sporting events in the world followed by millions on TV, online and in person.  In 2009, there are tennis players competing in The Championships representing over 60 countries including such obscure “tennis nations” as Algeria, Kyrgyzstan and Oman.  It’s not surprising that Russia has produced the most women in singles, i.e. 16 including 9 seeds.  On the other side of the net, Spain, France and the United States each have 14 men in singles including 5 seeded Spanish men, 3 seeded American men and 2 seeded Frenchmen.  The biggest surprise is that there are not more Brits in the singles main draws.  The other Grand Slams take advantage of their wildcards to pack the draw with locals.  For example, there were 7 Australian men and 9 Australian women in the Australian Open draw (4 total at Wimbledon), 19 French men and 19 French women in the French Open draw (25 total at Wimbledon), and 19 American men and 15 American women in the U.S. Open draw (21 total at the Big W).  Considering that the majority of the British tennis players need wildcards to get into the main draw, it’s a little surprising that Wimbledon gave a few of the wildcards to foreigners.  Another measure of a country’s tennis success is how many players reach the later rounds of Grand Slams and win titles.  There were 8 different countries represented in the Gentlemen’s quarterfinals and 6 in the Ladies’ quarters.  Listed below is a chart of the main draw singles players by country.  In comparing the number of players from the various countries in the singles draws from 2008 to 2009, there were only subtle shifts in the past year.  Many more countries are represented with players competing in singles, doubles, mixed doubles juniors and the wheelchair events.  

2009 Singles Draws

Country                              Men                             Women

            2008        2009                2008        2009

Argentina                     9                12                     1           1
Australia                      2                  1                     3           3
Canada                         ND               1                    ND          2
China                            0                 0                      5           3
Croatia                          5                3                      0           1
Czech Republic             6                4                     10           8
France                          14             14                     13          11
Germany                       12             10                      4           5
India                              ND             0                     ND          1
Israel                             1                1                      2           1
Italy                               6                5                      6           7
Japan                             1                0                      3           5
Romania                        1                3                      4           4
Russia                            7                8                     17         16
Serbia                            5                3                      2           2
Slovakia                        ND              2                     ND          4
South Africa                 ND               0                     ND          1
Spain                            12              14                      5           6
Sweden                          3               1                       1          0
Switzerland                   ND             2                      ND         3
Ukraine                          1               0                       7          5
UK                                 4                5                       5          6
US                                 11             14                       8          7

ND - no data