For the first time in the Championships' history, singles events were held in the wheelchair competitions.[2] Thus, all four majors now hold wheelchair singles events, making a complete Grand Slam in the discipline possible.
Novak Djokovic was the two-time defending champion in the gentlemen's singles, but lost in the third round to Sam Querrey, ending a 30-match winning streak at the majors and Djokovic's hopes of becoming the first man to achieve the Golden Slam. The gentlemen's singles title was won by Andy Murray. Serena Williams successfully defended her ladies' singles title and equaled Steffi Graf's Open Era record of 22 major singles titles.
The gentlemen's doubles event consisted of 'best of three sets' matches for rounds 1 and 2 in order to help with 'catch-up' scheduling due to a rain-stricken first week. It was also the first time since 2004 that play took place on Middle Sunday, also known as the People's Sunday, due to the fact that no tickets are sold in advance or through the ballot and all seats are made available on general sale the day before.
The tournament was run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and was included in the 2016 ATP World Tour and the 2016 WTA Tour calendars under the Grand Slam category. The tournament consisted of men's (singles and doubles), women's (singles and doubles), mixed doubles, boys (under 18 – singles and doubles) and girls (under 18 – singles and doubles), which is also a part of the Grade A category of tournaments for under 18, doubles events for men's and women's wheelchair tennis players as part of the UNIQLO Tour under the Grand Slam category and, for the first time in the tournament history this year, men's and women's singles events for wheelchair tennis players. The tournament was played only on grass courts; main draw matches were played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon; qualifying matches were played at the Bank of England Sports Ground, Roehampton.
Point and prize money distribution
Point distribution
Below is the tables with the point distribution for each phase of the tournament.
Senior points
Event
W
F
SF
QF
Round of 16
Round of 32
Round of 64
Round of 128
Q
Q3
Q2
Q1
Men's singles
2000
1200
720
360
180
90
45
10
25
16
8
0
Men's doubles
0
—
—
0
Women's singles
1300
780
430
240
130
70
10
40
30
20
2
Women's doubles
10
—
—
—
—
—
Wheelchair points
Event
W
F
3rd
4th
Singles
800
500
375
100
Doubles
800
500
100
—
Junior points
Event
W
F
SF
QF
Round of 16
Round of 32
Q
Q2
Q1
Boys' singles
375
270
180
120
75
30
25
20
0
Girls' singles
Boys' doubles
270
180
120
75
45
—
—
—
—
Girls' doubles
Prize money
The total prize money for this year tournament is of £28.10m, an increase of 5% from last year tournament. The players who will win the men's singles and women's singles will earn £2.00m, an increase of £120,000 from the previous year. The prize money for men's doubles, women's doubles and wheelchair players were also increased for this year competition.[1]
The seeds for gentlemen's singles are adjusted on a surface-based system to reflect more accurately the individual player's grass court achievement as per the following formula, which applies to the top 32 players according to the ATP rankings on 20 June 2016:
Take Entry System Position points at 20 June 2016.
Add 100% points earned for all grass court tournaments in the past 12 months (22 June 2015 – 19 June 2016).
Add 75% points earned for best grass court tournament in the 12 months before that (16 June 2014 – 21 June 2015).