History

 

The Championships, Wimbledon is more commonly known as just Wimbledon and is the World’s oldest major championship in tennis. It is also seen as the World’s most prestigious tournament, attracting players and viewers from across the globe.

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which is a private club, stages Wimbledon. It was founded in 1868 and was initially set up as a croquet club, called ‘The All England Croquet Club’. In 1875 the game of lawn tennis was introduced, which led to the name change in 1877. To commemorate this name change, the club held the first Lawn Tennis Championship. This tournament went on to become the modern Wimbledon Championships, with only very slight changes to the game rules. The major rule differences between the initial tournament and today’s spectacle are concerned with details such as the height of the net and posts and the distance from the service line to the net.

The first tournament featured only a Gentlemen’s Singles event, which attracted 22 competitors. 200 people paid one shilling each to watch the final, which was won by Spencer Gore.

In 1882 the club dropped the word ‘Croquet’ from their name, due to lawn tennis being almost exclusively played there. This was restored in 1899, mainly for sentimental reasons and has since remained unchanged.

By the year 1884, a Ladies Single’s event was added to the official tournament. This was joined by a Gentlemen’s Doubles event in the same year. The Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles events were not added until 1913. Wimbledon was contested by top-ranked amateurs until the advent of the open era of tennis in 1968. This meant that all tennis competitions were now open to both professionals and amateurs and was a change seen by the three other Grand Slam tournaments.

The lawns at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club were organised with the principal court at the centre and all other courts arranged around it. In 1922 the club moved to a new location (and its present site) at a ground near Church Road. At the time, the club did not have a court located in the centre; however, they decided to keep the name ‘Centre Court’ for its main court. in 1980 four new courts were added, which meant that Centre Court was then positioned at the centre of the playing area.

While the Wimbledon Championships are the pride of the English Tennis community, they are also a source of national chagrin. The last time an Englishman won the Gentlemen’s single event was back in 1936 (Fred Perry). Virginia Wade won the Ladies Single event more recently in 1977; however, this was 31 years ago!