The Wimbledon Cocktail

Wimbledon starts today. That oldest of tennis tournaments. The only one played on grass, the one considered the granddaddy of tennis titles and the one with such a strict dress code (whites only) that in 2013 Roger Federer was asked to change his shoes because the soles were bright orange.

The first Wimbledon championship was held on June 9th 1877 and was advertised as a “lawn tennis meeting, open to all amateurs”. Except women. Of course. Twenty two men showed up and played with wooden rackets and hand sewn flannel balls. Two hundred people watched.

In 1884, women were allowed to play. In 1920, they were allowed to play without a corset. In 1933 men could wear shorts, a privilege extended to women… six years later.

In 1951 Althea Gibson became the first black person to play on the grass courts and six years after that, became the first black player to win a singles title. May I please hear a big round of applause for the ladies finally achieving something before the men?!

In 1968 professionals were allowed to play and in 1975 Arthur Ashe beat Jimmy Connors to become the first black male to win at Centre Court.

In 2010 the longest match was played between John Isner (US) who won, and Nicolas Mahut (France), a game which took 11 hours and 55 minutes and was played out over three days. In contrast, the shortest game was played by Susan Tutt and Marion Bandy in 1969 and lasted a mere 20 minutes.

Wimbledon has come a long way since its early days and is now watched by almost half a million people in person, who attend over 13 days, with a cumulative reach on television of 26 million. 54 million tennis balls are used over the course of that time, balls which were white until 1986 when they were finally switched to yellow ones which could be better picked up by cameras.

And one final statistic. Approximately 60,000 pounds of strawberries are consumed along with 2,000 gallons of cream. Because it just ain’t Wimbledon without strawberries and cream.

Which inspired me to take those ingredients and create a cocktail. It’s light and refreshing, perfect for summer and delightful to consume while watching others run around a grass court. Just be careful… these go down rather easily. One too many and you’ll feel like you got hit in the head with a tennis ball.

Wimbledon Cocktail

~Strawberry Puree

• 8oz (about 1 cup) roughly chopped strawberries
• 1/2 C. water
• 1/2 C. sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Bring all the ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan.
2. Simmer for 20-25 minutes.
3. Take off the heat and press the strawberries through a sieve to get a nice puree.

~Cocktail

• 2 oz gin
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1 oz strawberry puree
• 1 oz heavy cream
• 1 egg white
• vanilla seltzer

1. Put all the ingredients, except seltzer, into a shaker.
2. Dry shake (no ice), for as long as you can muster, as in a few minutes, which will get the egg white nice and frothy.
3. Add ice and shake 30 seconds more or so.
4. Pour into a glass and top up with vanilla seltzer.

I used Original New York Seltzer which should be readily available, but there are a variety of good ones out there.

If you want to get really fancy, put some strawberry puree in a squeeze bottle and dot it on the top of the froth in a circle and then gently pull a knife through them all. Surprisingly simple and effective.