ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to explore the often contradictory social constructions of both Englishness and Britishness expressed by Wimbledon and the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC). It argues that recent efforts to celebrate Britishness in tennis are somewhat for nostalgia, but also for the underlying purpose to help restore Britain to former glories. The chapter focuses on in particular, the AELTC's branding of Wimbledon and the club's construction of invented traditions, and media representations of national identity expressed through British players. It provides the ways the event has been defined through media representations and marketed to generate nostalgia for 'tennis in an English garden', however, highlights contradictions in how the national identities of both England and Great Britain are socially constructed and presented. The chapter explores the conflation of English and British identities, as expressed through the marketing directives and media representation of Wimbledon and the AELTC, alongside the social construction of recent leading male British players' identities.
