Why Wimbledon is serving Indian ice cream and Bollywood beats

Wimbledon's push to win India is strategic and not accidental, Darshana Bhalla, a sports branding expert told the BBC.India is already Wimbledon's largest international audience by reach, and 2026 is a particularly important year with Arnav Paparkar becoming the first Indian in 36 years to reach the under-18 boys singles quarter finals."India is also seeing a stronger pipeline of young talent across both ATP and ITF circuits than it has in nearly a decade, and premium urban sports consumption is expanding rapidly beyond cricket, with streaming platforms able to target niche audiences at scale," says Bhalla.The organisers of the game are capitalising on these shifts.Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon's governing body, earlier told the Financial Times, external, that India has joined the US as a "main focus" for growing the grand slam's audience.But with the country likely to become the world's most important growth market for sport in the coming years - the sector is estimated to grow at a compounded 12-14% rate to 2030, nearly double the global average according to KPMG, external - tournaments like Wimbledon are having to be more culturally...