First Wimbledon Championship
The first Wimbledon Championships were held at the All England Lawn Tennis Club
July 09, 1877
Tennis Begins on a Croquet Lawn
The first Wimbledon Championship was held in July 1877 at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in the London suburb of Wimbledon. The club had added lawn tennis — then a relatively new sport — to its facilities and decided to organize a tournament to help raise money to repair a broken croquet roller. Twenty-two men entered, paying a guinea each, and played on one grass court while spectators paid one shilling to watch. The final was postponed for three days because of a cricket match that had priority booking on the club's calendar. Spencer Gore won the championship and received a 12-guinea prize — equivalent to a few hundred dollars today.
How the Tournament Grew
Women's singles was added to Wimbledon in 1884, and Maud Watson won the first women's championship. Men's doubles and mixed doubles were also added over the following years. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Wimbledon grew from a small local tournament into the most prestigious tennis event in the world. The club moved to its current location in Church Road, Wimbledon, in 1922, where it remains today. The tournament's traditions — white clothing requirements, strawberries and cream, the royal box, no play on the middle Sunday — have been maintained with varying degrees of strictness, giving the event a distinctive character unlike any other in sports.
The Oldest and Most Prestigious Grand Slam
Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is considered by many players and fans to be the most prestigious of the four Grand Slam events. Winning on the grass courts of the All England Club carries a historical weight that no other tournament can match. Champions like Roger Federer, who won eight Wimbledon titles, and Serena Williams, who won seven, speak of the tournament with particular reverence. The sight of Centre Court in midsummer, surrounded by its distinctive ivy-covered walls and filled with a hushed crowd on match point, is one of the iconic images of world sport. It all began with a croquet roller that needed fixing in 1877.