In 1877, the first Lawn Tennis Championships, an amateur event, was instituted at The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. The only event held was the Gentlemen's Singles which was won by Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian rackets player, from a field of 22. Spectators paid one shilling to watch the final. In 1884 the Ladies' Singles was inaugurated and from an entry of 13 players, Maud Watson became the Champion.That same year, the Gentlemen's Doubles was started, the trophy being donated to the Club by Oxford University Lawn Tennis Club upon cessation of their doubles championship, played from 1879 to 1883.

As the popularity of Wimbledon increased, the facilities for spectators were suitably improved. Permanent stands gradually took the place of temporary accommodation as by the mid-1880s crowds flocked 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'.

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 title. 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 event.

During the First World War, play at Wimbledon was suspended and the Club survived on donations from Club members and well-wishers. When Wimbledon resumed in 1919, a new generation of players sought honours. Suzanne Lenglen of France ended Britain's 35 year dominance of the Ladies' Singles when she defeated the holder, Dorothea Lambert Chambers. 1920 heralded the arrival of Bill Tilden of the United States, acclaimed by many as the greatest player in the history of the game.

In 1920, the new ground at Church Road was purchased after efforts to extend the old ground by purchasing adjoining properties had failed. In 1922, the Club moved to Church Road and a new era began. The foresight to build such a large stadium, originally designed for 14,000 people, did more to popularise the game than any other event to date.

Each year during the 1920s, France produced at least one singles Champion. Towards the end of Suzanne Lenglen's reign, the famous 'Four Musketeers' - Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and Rene Lacoste - appeared on the scene and during the next ten years won six singles and five doubles titles between them.


In 1930 Bill Tilden returned to gain his third crown at the age of 38 and a year later Cilly Aussem won Germany's first singles title. In 1932, over 200,000 spectators were present for the first time.

The mid- to late 1930s were a golden era for British tennis when 11 titles were claimed, including three successive Gentlemen's Singles titles for Fred Perry and two by Dorothy Round. In 1937 and 1938, Donald Budge and Helen Wills Moody, both of the United States, captured the singles titles.

During the Second World War the Club remained open despite a severe curtailment of staff. The premises were used for a variety of civil defence and military functions such as fire and ambulance services, Home Guard and a decontamination unit. In October 1940 a bomb struck Centre Court, resulting in the loss of 1,200 seats.

In 1946 play resumed at Wimbledon and by 1949 the Grounds were fully restored to their pre-War state. The American dominance of Wimbledon continued well into the 1950s. Outstanding among an array of Champions were Jack Kramer, Ted Schroeder, Tony Trabert, Louise Brough, Maureen Connolly and Althea Gibson, the first black winner.

From 1956 until the early 1970s, the Gentlemen's Singles was virtually the property of Australia and Lew Hoad, Neale Fraser, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and John Newcombe became household names. The sequence of American wins in the Ladies' Singles was not broken until 1959 when Maria Bueno of Brazil triumphed. In the 1960s, Margaret Smith became the first Australian to win the event, while Angela Mortimer and Ann Jones won for Great Britain.

The expansion of air travel in the 1950s meant more and more overseas players were competing at Wimbledon. At the same time players were increasingly branded "shamateurs" for receiving financial assistance well in excess of the amounts allowed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the governing body of the game worldwide.

The initiative for reform came from the Club, which proposed in 1959 that The Championships be made open to all players. The move was rejected by both the ITF and the LTA. In 1967 an invitation tournament to mark the advent of colour television was sponsored by the BBC at Wimbledon. The players included professionals who had won honours at Wimbledon in their amateur days but who had forfeited the right to play in The Championships upon turning professional. Later that year, the LTA voted overwhelmingly to open The Championships and in 1968, the first "open" Championships were held. Rod Laver and Billie Jean King were the first of such Champions.

In 1973, nearly 80 members of the Association of Tennis Professionals boycotted Wimbledon following the suspension of Nikki Pilic by the Yugoslavian Lawn Tennis Association. Despite the absence of so many players, attendance reached over 300,000. Jan Kodes of Czechoslovakia and Billie Jean King won the singles' Championships.

In 1977, The Championships celebrated their centenary. As part of the celebrations the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum was opened. The centenary of the Ladies' Singles Championship was celebrated in 1984.

In recent years, many long-standing records have been broken:

In 1980, Bjorn Borg of Sweden became the first player to win the Gentlemen's Singles five times in succession since William Renshaw in the late 1880s when there was a "Challenge" round. (From 1878 - 1921 the winner of the competition challenged the holder for the right to be the new Champion.)

In 1985, 17 year old Boris Becker of Germany became the youngest player, the first unseeded player and the first German to win the Gentlemen's Singles.

In 1987, Martina Navratilova of the United States became the first player to win the Ladies' Singles six times in succession and in 1990 attained the all-time record of nine victories in the event.

In 1996, Martina Hingis of Switzerland became the youngest ever Champion, winning the Ladies' Doubles Championship at 15 years, 282 days.


Royalty at Wimbledon

British Royalty has been associated with The Championships since 1907 when the Prince of Wales, accompanied by Princess Mary, visited the Worple Road ground on Saturday, 29th June. Arriving by car at about 3.15 pm, the Prince and Princess were met by the Committee at the entrance to the Ground and escorted to the Committee box, which had temporarily been fitted out as a Royal Box.

They stayed until a thunderstorm ended the day's play. Before leaving the Ground, the Prince accepted an offer of the Presidency of the Club and declared his intention to donate to the Club a challenge trophy.

The Prince remained President until his accession to the throne as King George V in 1910. He then became Patron of the Club, a position subsequently maintained by succeeding monarchs. King George V and Queen Mary were avid spectators at The Championships, being present each year from 1919 to 1934, with the exception of 1927 and 1929. Queen Mary continued this association and from 1935 to 1951 missed only one meeting - in 1936.

When, in 1922, King George V and Queen Mary opened the Church Road ground, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) and Prince Albert (later King George VI) were present. In 1926, on the occasion of The Jubilee Championships, Prince Albert competed in the Gentlemen's Doubles event in partnership with L. Greig, (later Sir Louis Greig, Chairman of the All England Lawn Tennis Club). In 1947, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were present to watch the Gentlemen's Singles final. Queen Elizabeth II visited The Championships in 1957, 1962 and during her Silver Jubilee Year in 1977 on the occasion of The Championships' Centenary. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, attended in 1949, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1960 and 1977.

In 1929 Prince George became President of the Club and so began the long association with the Kent family. When he died in 1942, his widow, the Duchess of Kent (later Princess Marina), succeeded in the post and up to her death in 1968 attended for 23 successive years.

Happily the tradition continues with the present Duke of Kent, who succeeded his mother in 1969. He and the Duchess of Kent attend frequently each year and present the trophies. Other members of the Royal family are regular visitors.