5 Top Best Movies That Features Wimbledon

— Oladapo Bamidele (June 14, 2024)

Soon, they will be serving up the strawberries and cream. The famous grass courts of the All-England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club will be trod upon by the world’s most famous tennis players and Wimbledon – simply known in England as The Championships – will be underway.

The third stop among the four Grand Slam tennis events is slated for July 1-14. And while you can bet on Wimbledon at all of the top online sports betting sites, if you can’t wait for the action to get started, there’s another method to immerse yourself into the Wimbledon culture and lifestyle.

Why not watch a film featuring the famous tennis tournament? While tennis might not get as many treatments on the silver screen as sports such as baseball, golf, or even auto racing, the fact of the matter is that there are a number of films featuring tennis in some form. And not surprisingly, considering the popularity of the event, there have been many movies to be built around, or at the very least, to incorporate Wimbledon into the storyline.

Let’s take a look at some of the more memorable moments when the movies visited Wimbledon.

Wimbledon (2004)

---

Naturally, it only makes sense to start out our story with the film that builds its entire plot around The Championships. Wimbledon is a romantic comedy starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany.

Dunst’s character Lizzie Bradbury is the rising star of women’s tennis. Arriving at Wimbledon, she bumps into Bettany’s character Peter Colt. Once the 11th-ranked player in the world. Colt has slumped to 119th in the rankings and is only playing in Wimbledon on a wild card entry. He’s decided this will be his last appearance in The Championships prior to retiring and taking up a posh role as a club tennis professional. 

Colt and Bradbury instantly hit it off and begin a fling. With Bradbury cheering him on, Colt makes a shocking run at Wimbledon. However, their budding relationship doesn’t sit well with Bradbury’s overbearing father, played by Sam Neill. He wants Lizzie to focus solely on becoming the No. 1 female player on the planet. 

Will either player conquer Wimbledon? Will love conquer all?

7 Days In Hell (2015)

---

A sports mockumentary, 7 Days In Hell is from the based on a true story genre. It’s a spoof of the famous 2010 Wimbledon match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut. That match would last three days and 183 games, making it the longest in tennis history.

In 7 Days From Hell, the title tells you how long this fictional Wimbledon match is going to last. Andy Samberg portrays the starring role as Aaron Williams, the supposedly adopted brother of the famous tennis-playing Williams sisters. Kit Harrington plays Charles Poole, his English opponent.

The story is told in HBO documentary style, incorporating footage from the BBC. Their week-long showdown features appearances by both male and female streakers, the Queen, David Copperfield, even Englebert Humperdinck. 

A stellar supporting cast including Jon Hamm, Mary Steenburgen, Michael Sheen, Lena Dunham, Fred Armisen, Will Forte and Howie Mandel keep the story flowing and the laughs coming. 

Who triumphs? How many games does it take before there’s a match point won? Well, you’ll just have to watch and find out.

King Richard (2021)

---

While not specifically a movie about Wimbledon, it is the story of two well-known Wimbledon figures, among the most popular female players in the history of the tournament. It’s the tale of Richard Williams and his two daughters, tennis-playing sensations Venus and Serena Williams. 

The patriarch of the Williams family is portrayed by Will Smith. Though the film wasn’t a box-office success, Smith won an Oscar for his performance. 

Between them, Serena (seven) and Venus (five) won 12 Wimbledon women’s singles titles. They faced each other four times in the women’s singles final, with Serena beating her sister in three of those four matches. Both sisters were actively involved during filming as executive producers. “People have gotten the story wrong, or media have portrayed my dad in an untruthful light,” Serena Williams told Forbes. “We want to get this story right.”

Borg vs McEnroe (2017)

---

Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe were the dominant men’s tennis players from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s. The film Borg vs McEnroe is based on their showdown in the 1980 Wimbledon men’s singles final. 

In that match, Sweden’s Borg, at the time the No. 1 player in the world, was seeking his fifth straight Wimbledon men’s singles title, while McEnroe, the brash, upstart American, was playing his first Wimbledon final.

Sverrir Gundason portrays Borg, while Shia LaBeouf fills the role of McEnroe. The two tennis legends engage in an epic five-set match that is still talked about today as perhaps the greatest-ever Wimbledon men’s final.

Match Point (2005)

---

Again, not technically a movie about Wimbledon, but it is set in London and the tennis scenes are shot at the Queen’s Club, site of a key pre-Wimbledon tune up event.

Director Woody Allen utilizes tennis as the backstory as he builds this psychological thriller. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is Chris Wilton, a retired tennis star who now works as an instructor at an exclusive London club. He’s in a marriage to Emily Mortimer’s character. She’s the daughter of an upscale London family.

Wilton enters into an affair with Scarlett Johansson’s character, who’s the fiancée of his brother-in-law. When Johansson’s character becomes pregnant, she wants Wilton to leave his wife and raise the child with her. But Wilton has other plans.

He smuggles a shotgun out of the house – fittingly in a tennis racket bag – and murders Johansson’s character. The police are investigating and closing in on Wilton as a suspect. Will he get away with murder, or will it be game, set and match for the former tennis star?

---

Did this press release inform you? Would you like to comment on “THE ARTICLE”? If you do, we would respond. Do let us know your thoughts if you have any suggestions. So hit us up on Facebook, Instagram! or Twitter.