At Wimbledon, Finding That Missing Centre Piece

Even great players often get few—or zero—chances to play on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

WIMBLEDON, England — After a third round win a few days ago at Wimbledon, Madison Keys made sure to tell the crowd on Centre Court a surprising fact as soon as she could in her on-court interview

“It’s actually my first time on this court—ever,” Keys said in her opening answer.

Centre Court can look far away. (Photo by Mark Peterson / Corleve)

Keys said it again in her opening answer at her press conference, too, to make sure everyone had heard this surprising factoid about her first time getting to the court considered the cathedral of the sport “all these years later.”

After all, Keys, 31, has been playing professional tennis since early 2009. She made her first major semifinal at the 2015 Australian Open, her first major final at the 2017 U.S. Open, and won her first major at the 2025 Australian Open. Though she hasn’t made it to a Wimbledon semifinal—the round at which she’d be guaranteed a spot on the court, she’d played a whopping 42 matches at Wimbledon—and 86 total matches on grass—before making it onto Centre Court for the first time.

Centre Court, looking like a fortress. (Photo by Mark Peterson / Corleve)

When I asked for her reaction to the honor, Keys said she excitedly texted her group of podcast cohosts when she saw the schedule. When she mentioned that group, I started racking my brain wondering if her cohost Jessica Pegula had ever made it on Centre Court in her own long and successful career. I asked Keys a few seconds after I started pondering.

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: Has Jess been on there? I can’t remember Jess being on there.

Madison Keys: I think she has? I feel like I’ve watched her on Centre before? Maybe I’m fake news? But I feel like she has been.

As it turned out, Pegula had not played on Centre Court, which she confirmed in her own press conference a day later (as you’ll read in our exchange below).

As it happens, fourth-seeded Pegula will make her own long-awaited Centre Court debut at age 32 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at Wimbledon, facing seventh-seeded Coco Gauff—who made her Centre Court debut seven years ago as a 15-year-old. It’s a fitting stage for the match between the two highest-ranked players remaining in the women’s draw.

These surprise thirtysomething debutantes got me wondering: who has played on Centre Court the most? And the least? With some help from the All England Club, I have that hard-to-find data here for Bounces subscribers, with more surprises in store.