Wimbledon

The oldest and probably most famous tournament in tennis.

The Championships are played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London.

Wimbledon started on the 9th of July 1877 when the only event held was the men’s singles. At the grounds of Wimbledon it was arranged so that the principal court(centre court) was in the middle of all the other courts. In 1884 the club soon introduced the Women’s singles and men’s doubles. In 1913 Women’s doubles and mixed doubles were now added as news competitions in the tournament. As with the three other grand slam events, Wimbledon was contested by the top ranked amateur players but professional players were prohibited from participating.

A new retractable roof was built in time for the 2009 championships considering that the rain in England is very rainy, it became the first time in Wimbledon’s history that rain had not stopped play for a very lengthy time. Every year the tournament starts on the last Monday in June, or it starts on the first Monday of July. The tournament is scheduled for fourteen days that begin on Monday and finish on Sunday. Since 2009 there has been a rule put into place so that every match has to finish before 11:00pm, it is also the only grand slam that has a nighttime curfew.

Both the men’s and the Women’s singles consist of 128 players. Wimbledon is the only event played on natural grass. All the majors were used to be played on grass except the French open which is now played on clay. Centre court has the maximum capacity of 14,979. The second most important court after centre court is No.1 court which is adjacent to centre court. Court No.1 was constructed in 1997 to replace the old No.1 court, the old court was demolished and rebuilt so that their was increased capacity for spectators.

On the Northen side of the ground there is a big television which live broadcasts important matches that are happening of the tournament. It is mainly used for people that don’t have tickets for the match.