Let's enjoy Middle Sunday and Manic Monday, and their archaic charms, one last time

PRESS CONFERENCE: Coco Gauff makes it to Manic Monday.

The Elgin Marbles and the Assyrian reliefs at the British Museum. Hans Holbein’s “The Ambassadors” at the National Gallery. The Rothko room and a gobsmacking Cy Twombly retrospective at the Tate Modern. These are just a few of the nice things I’ve seen in London during Middle Sundays past at Wimbledon.

As you can probably tell from the fact that I’m capitalizing the phrase, Middle Sunday is treated like one of the tennis season’s high holy days by the press and others who work at the majors. It’s the only scheduled day off during any of the four Grand Slams. After a week of 12-hour work days, with another week of them to come, having 24 to yourself feels luxurious.

Unfortunately, luxuries are, by definition, something you can live without. After being forced to cancel its 2020 event due to the pandemic, Wimbledon finally decided that it could do without Middle Sunday. The chance to sell tickets that day, and show live matches on TV, was too tempting. This will be the last Middle Sunday with no play, and the last time the tournament will stage its spiritual opposite, Manic Monday. Instead of having all 16 fourth-round matches held on one day, they’ll be spread out, in saner fashion, over two.

The move marks the end of a long tug of war between capitalism and Christian ritual at Wimbledon. From 1877 until 1982, there was no play on any Sunday at the tournament. The men’s singles final was held on a Saturday, a tradition that came to an end with John McEnroe’s win over Bjorn Borg in the 1981 final. (Not coincidentally, that was also the last men’s final to be won with a wooden racquet.) In 1982, Jimmy Connors beat McEnroe in the first scheduled Sunday final. Eight years later, Connors was also part of the first Middle Sunday in which officials were forced to break tradition and schedule matches, due to bad weather. That has happened three more times since, and the carnival-like atmosphere that ensued on each occasion is something that the tournament hopes to replicate on Middle Sundays in the future.

“We want more of this wonderful event to be available to more people around the world to share in the joy of the Championships,” Sally Bolter, the All England Club’s chief executive, said. “Including Middle Sunday permanently in our schedule will allow us to do just that and begin a new tradition which we hope we can become immensely proud of. It enables us to do more with the second Monday, which is known as ‘manic’ for good reason.”

As much as I loved my Middle Sunday train trips into London, it’s an overdue change. For the 99.99 percent of the planet that isn’t playing or working at Wimbledon, it’s just a day with no tennis on TV. Worse, it’s a day with no tennis on TV when people are at home, expecting to see tennis on TV. There are only eight weekends in the year when people with jobs can be exposed to Grand Slam tennis. It has never made sense, from a growing-the-game perspective, to waste one of those days on first-week reruns. From Wimbledon’s perspective, it has never made sense to let all of those seats on its grounds sit empty for a day, in the middle of the tournament.

Similarly, Manic Monday is a better idea in theory than it is in practice. It sounds amazing to have all 16 singles match go off in one day, but with so much happening at once, there are a lot of entertaining contests that you simply don’t have time to see. At a certain point, the day becomes a blur of serves and scores. Better to split those matches up over two days, and give more of them the show-court showcases they deserve. Traditionally, the eight women quarterfinalists have to come back 24 hours later on Tuesday. That won’t be necessary when half the round of 16 matches are played on Sunday. (If there’s a downside to the move, it’s that the grass in the show courts will get one more day of use, and will be that much more torn up by the final weekend.)

But we can’t blame Wimbledon for wanting to take advantage of every opportunity for revenue, especially after the pandemic. And we’re not going to get far bemoaning the onslaught of capitalism. To choose God over Mammon for 140 years is as much as anyone can reasonably expect.

Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t mourn our traditions, even if their time has passed. This weekend I’ll enjoy the calm of Middle Sunday, and the storm of Manic Monday, one more time. Sixteen fourth-round matches may be too much of a good thing, but that’s what makes it a thrill for tennis fans. Then, in 2022, I’ll be happy to watch tennis every day of the fortnight.