HISTORY OF WIMBLEDON TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP

The Beginning The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which is responsible for staging the world`s leading tennis tournament, is a private Club founded in 1868, originally as `The All England Croquet Club`. Its first ground was situated off Worple Road, Wimbledon. In 1875 lawn tennis, a game introduced by major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so earlier and originally called Sphairistike, was added to the activities of the Club. In the spring of 1877 the Club was re-titled `The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club` and signalled its change of name by instituting the first Lawn Tennis Championship. A new code of laws, hitherto administered by the Marylebone Cricket Club, was drawn up for the meeting. These have stood the test of time and today`s rules are similar except for details such as the height of the net and posts and the distance of the service line from the net. The only event held in 1877 was the Gentlemen`s Singles which was won by Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian rackets player, from a field of 22. About 200 spectators paid one shilling each to watch the final. The lawns at the Ground were arranged in such a way that the principal court was situated in the middle with the others arranged around it: hence the title `Centre Court`, which was retained when the Club moved in 1922 to the present site in Church Road, although it was not a true description of its location at the time. However, in 1980 four new courts were brought into commission on the north side of the ground, which meant the Centre Court was once more at the centre of the tournament. The opening of the new No. 1 Court in 1997 emphasised the description. By 1882 activity at the Club was almost exclusively confined to lawn tennis and that year the word `croquet` was dropped from the title. However, for sentimental reasons, it was restored in 1899 and the club has been known as `The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club` ever since. Enter the Ladies In 1884 the Ladies` Singles was inaugurated and, from an entry of 13 players, Maud Watson became the first champion. That same year, the Gentlemen`s Doubles was started, with the trophy donated by the Oxford University Lawn Tennis Club after the end of their doubles championship, played from 1879 to 1883. As the popularity of Wimbledon increased, the facilities for spectators were improved with permanent stands gradually replacing temporary accommodation. By the mid-1880s crowds were flocking to see the prowess of British twins Ernest and William Renshaw who, separately and as doubles partners, won 13 titles between 1881 and 1889. The boom in popularity of the game in this period became known as the `Renshaw Rush`. For a period in the nineties public affection for Wimbledon waned, but in 1897 the legendary Doherty brothers, Laurie and Reggie, began their ten-year rule of the courts and soon capacity crowds reappeared. Overseas Champions By the turn of the century Wimbledon had assumed an international character and in 1905 May Sutton of the United States became the first Champion from overseas when she won the Ladies` Singles. She repeated her success in 1907, the year when Norman Brookes of Australia became the first Gentlemen`s Singles champion from overseas. Since that year, only two players from Great Britain, Arthur Gore and Fred Perry, have managed to win the Men`s Singles while there have been five British Ladies` Champions since Wimbledon moved to Church Road — Kitty McKane Godfree, Dorothy Round, Angela Mortimer, Ann Jones and Virginia Wade.

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