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General knowledge · Sport

Wimbledon

First held 1877

Sport — tennis

The oldest tennis tournament in the world, staged since 1877 by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in south-west London and the only one of the four Grand Slam events still played on grass. It runs over a fortnight from late June, enforces a strict all-white clothing rule, and is as famous for its rituals — the queue, strawberries and cream, the royal box — as for its tennis.

How to spot them

  • ▸Grass courts in SW19; a fortnight beginning in late June
  • ▸The Venus Rosewater Dish and a silver-gilt cup topped with a pineapple
  • ▸All-white clothing; strawberries and cream; the Centre Court roof
  • ▸Run by a club whose name still contains the word 'croquet'

Key facts

The only Grand Slam tournament still played on grass

The Australian and US Opens moved to hard courts; Roland-Garros is clay

The ladies' champion receives a silver salver known as the Venus Rosewater Dish (1886)

The men's prize is a silver-gilt cup with a pineapple on the lid, first presented in 1887

First held in 1877, when Spencer Gore beat a field of twenty-two (1877)

The club needed money to repair a pony roller; the entry fee was a guinea

Organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in SW19

Founded in 1868 as the All England Croquet Club; lawn tennis was added to the name in 1877

Isner beat Mahut 70–68 in the fifth set here over three days in 2010 (2010)

Eleven hours and five minutes, the longest match in tennis history; final-set tie-breaks were introduced in 2019 partly as a result

Jannik Sinner beat Alexander Zverev in the 2026 men's final; Linda Nosková won an all-Czech women's final (2026)

Nosková beat Karolína Muchová 6–2, 5–7, 6–3

Quick-fire facts

  • •Held since 1877, making it the oldest tennis tournament in the world; the first champion was Spencer Gore
  • •The ladies' singles began in 1884 and was won by Maud Watson
  • •The men's singles trophy is inscribed 'All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Championship of the World' and is topped by a pineapple
  • •Martina Navratilova holds the record with nine ladies' singles titles; Roger Federer has eight men's titles, the most in the men's game
  • •Centre Court gained a retractable roof in 2009 and No. 1 Court in 2019
  • •Play on the middle Sunday, once a rest day, became standard from 2022
  • •Since 2022 a final set going to six games all is decided by a tie-break, first to ten points
  • •The all-white rule was relaxed slightly in 2023 to allow female players dark-coloured undershorts
  • •Prize money was first offered in 1968, when the tournament became open to professionals

Drill it — 10 cards

1 / 10new card

Sources