The All England Lawn Tennis Club, a private members club based in London, has announced its first official esports tournament called the Wimbledon eChamps.
The tournament, presented by American Express, will be played on tennis video game TopSpin 2K25 and is set to take place on July 6th 2024.
Esports tournament organiser BLAST, who recently put on three UK events in Rainbow Six Siege, Counter-Strike 2 and Rocket League, will be running and producing the event. BLAST runs tournaments in many different esports ecosystems, including the aforementioned Fortnite as well as Dota 2.
The eChamps will begin with open qualifiers for which the registration is already open. Eligible TopSpin 2K25 players will be able to work their way up the rankings in an attempt to qualify for the live in-person finals. The finals will then be held at the Media Theatre in Wimbledon this September.
The qualifiers will run across four countries in Europe; UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and three countries in North America; Mexico, Canada and the USA.
The winner of the event will be crowned the Wimbledon eChampion and will receive a unique gold-plated PlayStation 5 console, which will have their name and achievement etched into it by Wimbledon’s official engraver. They will also win an all-expenses paid trip to the Gentlemen’s Singles Final in 2025.
Usama Al-Qassab, Marketing and Commercial Director for the All England Club, commented: “Over the years Wimbledon has witnessed many historic firsts. We are excited that this year, alongside our partners American Express, we will be adding to this with the first ever Wimbledon eChamps.
“The arrival of TopSpin 2K25, provided the perfect opportunity for us to create this exciting esports tournament and we cannot wait to welcome the qualifiers to Wimbledon in September.”
