Kate Middleton Didn’t Get Curtsies and Bows From Tennis Players at Wimbledon Until Prince William Showed up and There’s a Reason for It

Wondering why tennis players didn’t bow and curtsy to Kate Middleton or Queen Camilla at Wimbledon? That is before the Princess of Wales returned alongside Prince William, Prince George, and Princess Charlotte? There’s a reason for it: the famed tennis tournament’s rules. A Wimbledon rules change altered what players have to do when members of the British royal family sit courtside. 

Wimbledon changed the rules for bowing and curtsying to royals in 2003

A change to the rules in the early 2000s means tennis players aren’t required to bow and curtsy to royals. So when Kate sat in the Royal Box with the Prince of Wales and their two oldest children, 9-year-old George and 8-year-old Charlotte, on July 16, 2023, for the men’s singles final, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic weren’t technically required to bow.  

In 2003, the Club’s then-president, the Duke of Kent, changed the rules. No longer did players have to bow or curtsy to royals as they entered and exited Centre Court. Rather, the long-standing tradition went to the wayside in favor of the gesture being at the players’ discretion. 

“The Duke of Kent feels that during his lifetime the tradition of bowing and curtseying is pretty much on the way out,” Tim Phillips, the Club’s then-chairman, said in 2003 (via The Guardian). “To do it very publicly on the centre court at Wimbledon doesn’t seem right, therefore.”

The change to the rules also got an update with bowing or curtsying only required of players when the late Queen Elizabeth II went to Wimbledon or the former Prince of Wales, King Charles III. 

Wimbledon winner and runner-up bowed to Kate but not William

In her capacity as president — and royal patron — of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which hosts Wimbledon, Kate had to do a little work following the championship match. 

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After Alcaraz beat Djokovic, the defending Wimbledon champ, the mother of three left the Royal Box and headed to Centre Court. There she gave the players their trophies, which saw both Djokovic and Alcaraz bowing to Kate. 

Meanwhile, William, who remained seated with George and Charlotte during the trophy ceremony, didn’t receive a bow. 

The reason? Not only did the 2003 change to the Wimbledon rules play a part but, as People reported, some players keep up the tradition while others do not. Case in point: Djokovic and Alcatraz, who both bowed to Kate as they received their trophies. 

John McEnroe once suggested royals bow to tennis players at Wimbledon

In his 2017 autobiography, But Seriously, three-time Wimbledon winner-turned-commentator John McEnroe argued the roles should be reversed between royals and tennis players. 

“As for all the bowing and the curtsying — and we’re not just talking about the Queen here, we’re talking about some pretty minor royals — what was that all about?” he wrote. 

“This was the class system gone mad,” McEnroe continued. “The opposite of a meritocracy where hard work is rewarded and people are respected because they’ve actually done something. Not because they’ve been born on the right side of the tracks.” 

“Who were the performers here? The players, right?” he asked. “So why were they bowing to someone else when they were about to provide the entertainment? Those people in the royal box should think about bowing to them.”