Wimbledon

Wimbledon (also: All England Championships or Lawn Tennis Championships) is a tennis tournament in Great Britain. It's traditionally the 3rd Grand Slam tournament of the year and is held on grass courts from the end of June until the beginning of July in the british capital London.

[edit] History

The first Wimbledon tournament took place in 1877 and was broadcasted on TV in 1937 already. Until 1910, only british players were allowed to compete in the All England Championships. The first women's tournament was held in 1884.

Wimbledon is the world's oldest tennis championship and is still said to be the most prestigious and traditional one. For example, no other Grand Slam tournament has such a strict dress code for players. They have to wear "almost entirely white" clothing during matches. Normally, there are no matches scheduled on the tournament's first sunday. For the spectators, strawberries and cream is the traditional snack offered at the grounds in Wimbledon.

Spencer Gore from Great Britain was the first champion in Wimbledon. The women's premiere was won by the Briton Maud Watson. Fred Perry was the last male british player in 1936 to win the All England Championships. The last female player from Great Britain to win was Virginia Wade in 1977.

Record Wimbledon winners are the US-American Pete Sampras with seven victories and his compatriot Martina Navratilova with nine singles titles.

In 2007, Roger Federer from Switzerland defeated Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the finals to secure his fifth consecutive singles title. The US-American Venus Williams beat Marion Bartoli (France) to win her fourth Wimbledon championship overall.

[edit] Weblinks

• Official All England Championships website

Created by: Tennisfan