After two years of absence Wimbledon, the most famous tennis tournament in the world, back on the lawn of the All England Club in London. Last year, the tournament had to be canceled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, also thanks to the insurance guarantees agreed in 2003, which enabled Church Road’s board of directors not to lose economically, as was the case with the other majors.
This year will be the last season that Middle Sunday will be played, which will not be again from next year. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams will be the big protagonists of the men’s and women’s singles, while Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka won’t be in London.
It was in 1874 when Welsh Major Walter Wingfield Clopton published a patent that was fundamental to the birth of tennis: a portable tennis court. It laid down the basic rules of tennis which, over the course of more than a century, have changed only in some technological aspects, leaving the main substance more or less unchanged, with the exception of a few details that we will see later.
The All England Lawn Croquet Club, a British sports club founded in 1868, later took an interest in tennis and eventually changed its name to All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
The first tournament was played in 1877 when the Wingfield patent expired. A crowd of about two hundred saw Spencer Gore, one of the first inventors of the volée (volley), to triumph over London’s lawn.
Over the years, at the turn of the 19th and 19th centuries, the tournaments became hungry and were so successful that they attracted many athletes, spectators and journalists. A women’s tournament was also organized in 1884, and the first winner was Maud Watson.
One of the strangest moments in the entire history of the tournament was the final game between the Anglican Reverend John Hartley, pastor of Burneston, North Yorkshire and the future and alleged killer Vere Thomas “St.
Leger “Goold, 1879, the third Championships Edition. The Devil and the Holy Water. Almost like a mystical battle, the story of the Reverend and the Murderer is a mystery that still lingers in the summer air of London!”
After the First World War, the world tennis scene, now a sport of great fame, glamor and prestige, experienced a golden age in which big names dominated the courts: the four French musketeers René Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Jacques Brugnon and Jean Borotra, then Suzanne Lenglen and the Briton Fred Perry.
It was during those years that modern tennis was born, but it wasn’t uncommon for a tennis player to have a shot of gin between a break and another match. After World War II, the dominance of American and then Australian players shaped the history of the championships.
With the beginning of the Open Era, Wimbledon was at the center of the sports world in the following decades, with celebrities such as Rod Laver, Billie-Jean King, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Martina Navratilova. Over the years the All England Club has expanded both the courts and facilities and made the tournament more progressive.
The Wimbledon Museum is an example of the tournament’s worldwide growth. Steffi Graf, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Serena and Venus Williams, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic wrote (and some of them are still writing!) The history of the London tournament from the 1990s to the present day.
In 2009, a retractable roof was built on the Center Court to be able to play in the rain. From the 2019 edition on, Court 1 will also have a retractable roof. Not only: Starting this year, a super tiebreak will be introduced in the fifth set, starting with a score of 12-12.
Since the last editions, the sustained turnaround of the tournament has been a source of pride for the All England Club. No more plastic in which newly strung clubs are wrapped. There will also be qualified staff around the places to inform the crowd about proper waste disposal. In addition, the organizers will offer 100% recyclable products such as water bottles.
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