The Wimbledon Tennis Championships

History Magazine – Background UK – Chairman UK – The Championships, Wimbledon, or Wimbledon because it is more commonly known, is the most famous and the oldest tennis tournament on earth. Since the tournament in 1877, The Championships are hosted by that the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London and happen over fourteen days in late June. Of the four annual tennis tournaments Wimbledon is the only one. Grass is also the surface that provides the fastest game of tennis. Of the 3, the US Open and the Australian Open are played on hard courts as well as that the French Open is played on clay.

The 1st year of the Championships took place in contrast to today’s sporting extravaganza. The All England Club had been known as the All England Croquet Club as it opened in 1869, but since the new game of yard tennis an offshoot of the first indoor racket sport known by traditionalists as actual tennis began to grow in popularity towards the end of the 19th century, the club made a decision to provide tennis courts for their own visitors. On 14 Apr 1877 the Club introduced the very first of a number of name changes to become the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club.

Unlike todays tournament, that involves four junior and 4 invitation competitions alongside the 5 Main competitions that the men’s single and double matches, that the women’s single and double matches and that the mixed doubles that the very first Wimbledon championships had one event, the Gentleman’s Singles. As it wasn’t permissible for females to enter that the tournament in 1877, that the very first Wimbledon champion out of a group of twenty two male opponents has been twenty seven year old Spencer William Gore. As would also be the convention for many Wimbledon championships to follow until a retractable roof has been installed over middle court in the year 2009 that the final was postponed due to rain.

When it was finally played 3 days later the weather conditions hadn’t greatly improved. Ladies at Wimbledon – The game of lawn tennis was still in its infancy at this stage, with players using basic craft equipment as well as imprecise strokes, unlike the slick powerful services as well as top of that the range rackets we see today. Having had to replace both that the Field Cup in 1883 and that the Challenge Cup in 1886, that the All England Club made a decision that future trophies should no longer be owned by the Championship winners, who’d instead receive a replica of that the trophy while that the originals were housed in that the Wimbledon museum. For that the men’s singles winners that the trophy was a silver gilt cup engraved with that the words The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Champ of that the World and inscribed with that the title of winners dating back to 1877.