At 8am on final day of the Wimbledon Championships, a large van always pulls up at the gate on Somerset Road. A team of five women will emerge, rolling packed suitcases and wheeling empty clothes racks into the clubhouse within Centre Court, straight through to the women’s locker room.
Judy Murray called it an “Aladdin’s Cave” of riches. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova described it as “heaven”. It is only a player locker room, but on this day it gets transformed into the walk-in wardrobe of dreams, ahead of the traditional Champions’ Dinner at the Guildhall.
Stylist Elisabeth Piner, founder of Having A Ball Dress Hire, has spent the last 32 years setting up her very own “pop-up shop” in one of the most exclusive areas of the All England Club. Along with her two daughters who work for her, she fills it with around 150 designer gowns, including Jenny Packham and Vivienne Westwood, plus accessories and a line-up of stilettos in every size. A make-up artist and hair stylist set up their stations too, their tools laid out in front of the mirrors. In the men’s locker room next door, a rack of suits and tuxedos are on hand.
The first woman to walk through their doors each year is always the champion, newly crowned the previous afternoon.
From the bejewelled blush pink number Serena Williams wore to dance with Novak Djokovic in 2015, the satin yellow mini-dress a “shy” 17-year-old Maria Sharapova donned in 2004, and the green and white tulle gown accessorised with Gucci trainers by Elena Rybakina last year, Piner has been responsible for all of the champion looks.
Wimbledon men’s singles Tennis Champion Andy Murray of Great Britain and Kim Murray attend the Wimbledon Champions Dinner 2016 at the Guild Hall on July 10, 2016 in London, England
Czech player Kvitova was 21-years-old when she got first-pick, and chose a royal blue silk gown. She was the surprise package in 2011, beating Maria Sharapova in the final, and admits having a team of stylists and make-up artists on hand to dress her was completely new territory.
“It’s heaven for the girl for sure,” Kvitova tells Telegraph Sport. “I’m not sure about my coaches, the men, if they liked it, but they didn’t have any choice! It’s a one life experience, it was a beautiful thing to do. Since then I’ve had many photoshoots and stuff, but this was very special, very unique here at Wimbledon.”
It was not always that way. Before Piner’s services were introduced at Wimbledon, Pam Shriver – who won five women’s doubles titles between 1981 and 1986 – says she often stuffed a dress at the bottom of her suitcase when packing for Wimbledon, confident of her chances with doubles partner Martina Navratilova. “I wear a size US 12 (UK 10) shoe, so that was always my problem,” Shriver adds. “I better have some appropriate shoes with me, otherwise I’m wearing my white grass court ones!”
In the 1990s Piner’s locker room wardrobe was still new and not as well established. 16-year-old Martina Hingis popped to Harrods for a dress when she won Wimbledon in 1997, while Spain’s Conchita Martinez – who won three years prior – remembers walking up the hill to Wimbledon Village and buying her black outfit in a local shop.
When she returned to the Champions’ Dinner in 2017 as the coach of that year’s winner Garbine Muguruza, she got the full treatment. “This time I picked a dress, had my hair and make up done – it was special,” Martinez says.