Wimbledon (2004)

A pro tennis player has lost his ambition and has fallen in rank to 119. Fortunately for him, he meets a young player on the women's circuit who helps him recapture his focus for Wimbledon.

Director:

Richard Loncraine

Writers:

Adam Brooks, Jennifer Flackett

Stars:

Kirsten Dunst, Paul Bettany, Jon Favreau

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kirsten Dunst	...	Lizzie Bradbury
Paul Bettany	...	Peter Colt
Sam Neill	...	Dennis Bradbury
Jon Favreau	...	Ron Roth
Bernard Hill	...	Edward Colt
Eleanor Bron	...	Augusta Colt
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau	...	Dieter Prohl
Austin Nichols	...	Jake Hammond
Robert Lindsay	...	Ian Frazier
James McAvoy	...	Carl Colt
John McEnroe	...	John McEnroe
Chris Evert	...	Court Commentator Chris Evert
Mary Carillo	...	Court Commentator Mary Carillo
John Barrett	...	Court Commentator John Barrett
Kyle Hyde	...	Monte Carlo Opponent

Storyline

Peter Colt, an English tennis player in his thirties whose ranking slipped from 11th to 119th in the world, considers he never really had to fight for anything as his wealthy but all but close family easily put him through studies and allowed him to pursue his tennis ambitions, bravely exchanges jokes with his German sparring partner Dieter Prohl, in a similar position, but feels it's about time to admit he's getting too old to compete with fitter coming men (or boys) and intends, after a last Wimbledon, to take a job with the prestigious tennis club instead. Just then, by accident, he bumps into Lizzie Bradbury, the American rising star of female tennis, falls in love with her and finds her interest in him changes his entire perception, even gives him the strength to win again. But where will it lead them, especially when her overprotective father-manager Dennis Bradbury proves determined to nip their relationship in the bud, believing it detrimental to her career?

---

Plot Keywords:

tennis | wimbledon | mini skirt | miniskirt | short skirt | 

---

Taglines:

She's the golden girl. He's the longshot. It's a match made in...

---

Genres:

Comedy | Romance | Sport

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language, sexuality and partial nudity

Details

Country:

UK France USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

17 September 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wimbledon - Spiel, Satz und... Liebe

Filming Locations:

All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Church Road, Wimbledon, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$31,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,118,985, 19 September 2004, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$17,001,133, 11 November 2004

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$41,512,007

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures,StudioCanal,Working Title Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES Dolby Digital EX SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Getting the actors to play professional-looking tennis proved much more difficult than anticipated. Eventually, it was decided to film them performing the strokes and digitally add the ball afterwards.

---

Goofs

When Peter is practicing his serves by hitting the empty cans, he knocks down a few. When Lizzie comes in the cans are fixed.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Peter Colt: [voiceover] We all start off in life with a dream, don't we? For a tennis player, it's being in the final of a Grand Slam, Centre Court, a high lob... a smash. Game, set and match. You're a champion. You're number one. But for most tennis players, that's all it ever is: a dream. The reality is another story. My story. Now, you see that good-looking fella? No, no that kid in white, the other tired good-looking fella. Yeah, him. Well, that's me. British Davis Cup, long time ago. Two ...

---

Crazy Credits

Dedicated to Mark McCormack 1930-2003

---

Connections

Referenced in Sports Jeopardy!: Episode #2.8 (2015)

---

Soundtracks

Sometimes
(Buchanan / Buena / De Vries / Howard / Range / Rockstar)
Performed by Sugababes
Courtesy of Universal-Island Records Limited

User Reviews

From the people that brought you Notting Hill...

...comes another romantic comedy, almost exactly like it! Having picked up on the blatant similarities between Paul Bettany and Hugh Grant as foppish, witty Englishmen in Wimbledon, it came as no surprise to me to learn that Hugh Grant had originally been considered for the lead role of Peter Colt. If you have ever seen a film starring Hugh Grant as the lead, you know now what Wimbledon is essentially like and how it is acted because Paul Bettany's tennis-playing character Peter is exactly like a Hugh Grant character--confused, witty and extremely English. While Bettany does not quite have the the charming part down to perfection yet, he is much more attractive than the king of romantic comedies. He is also strangely compatible with Kirsten Dunst and that makes it a nice romance story.

While centering the plot around tennis (Wimbledon, in fact) is fairly uncommon, this is only a disguise for a genuinely ordinary and well-milked premise. Man is out of touch and out of luck and meets a wild, free girl who will help him awake from his sedated mental state and make him feel alive again. Conflicts inevitably rise, because the man and girl are two players in Wimbledon and so there is more at stake than just a love affair; they are both competing to win. In the end, this film is really quite cute and often at least a little funny but believe me when I say it's nothing you haven't seen before. I mostly enjoyed it because of Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau, to be honest.