Changes at Wimbledon: 1868-2012

The Beginnings
The All England Croquet Club was founded in 1868 and tennis was later added with the club being renamed the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The first Wimbledon Tennis Championships took place in 1877 and consisted of only a men’s singles tournament between twenty-two players. At this point the club was situated on Worple Road, near the town centre of Wimbledon. The main court was in the centre of the grounds with the others situated around it. This is where the term ‘Centre Court’ originally came from, which is the name often used to describe the main stadium at tennis tournaments around the world. Soon after tennis began at the club croquet ceased to be played there and was dropped from the clubs title. It was, though, later added once again for sentimental reasons. 
The End of Worple Road 
The Wimbledon Championships grew with the addition of the ladies singles and the ladies, men and mixed doubles events and increasing numbers attended the event. In the 1920’s it was decided that the Worple Road site was no longer large enough to accommodate the championships and the number of spectators it was attracting. A large part of the reason for this was the popularity of the great French player Suzanne Lenglen, who by the end of her career had won twelve grand slam titles. 
The New Venue
The All England Club made the decision to move to a site on Church Road, which had previously been used as a farm. This remains the current site although it has changed much since. The first championships at the new site took place in 1922 with the main show court named Centre Court – as it had been at Worple Road – despite it no longer being in the centre of the grounds. It held 13,500 spectators and the rest of the courts were placed to the south of it. 
No. 1 Court
A couple of years after the move it was decided that another large court was required. This was built to the west side of Centre Court, effectively being attached to the same structure. It had a capacity of 3,250, but was gradually expanded over the years and seated 7,500 by the time it was demolished in the 1990’s. 
The Impact of World War 2
The area of Wimbledon was hit by many bombs during World War 2 and one hit the Centre Court at the All England Club in 1940. Due to this 1,200 seats were out of used by the time the Championships began again after the war, and these weren’t repaired until 1947. 
The 1970’s
The 1970’s were highlighted by Bjorn Borg, who was responsible for ever increasing crowds attending the championships. The facilities were improved during this period and courts 14 to 17 were added to the north side of Centre Court, meaning it was more central. A food lawn was created to the north of these four courts which became the main eating area for spectators. 
The 1990’s
There has been real change at Wimbledon since the mid-1990’s and it has been significantly expanded. This has included the demolishment of the old No. 1 Court and the building of a new one in what has become the northern edge of the grounds. The expansion means that Centre Court is once again in the centre, as it was at Worple Road. The earth that had to be removed to build the new 11,000 capacity arena was then used to create a hill to the west side of it. This has become a viewing area from where people can watch a large television screen showing matches. This has become an important feature of the tournament and was nicknamed Henman Hill after the British tennis player Tim Henman due to the atmosphere created on the hill by those watching his matches on the screen. Two other courts were also added as part of this building phase, including Court 18, which has since been made famous for hosting the longest match in tennis history when John Isner beat Nicholas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set in a match lasting over eleven hours and being played across three days.  
The Centre Court Roof
A recent addition to Wimbledon has been the adding of a retractable roof to Centre Court meaning tennis can be played there even during rain. Temperature control systems means it is possible to play on the grass court in these circumstances. 
Courts 2 and 3
Courts 2 and 3 used to be adjacent to one another with Court 2 known as the graveyard to the seeds due to the number of upsets that occurred on the court. These have been demolished recently, though, with two new courts having been built. Court 3 is now on the site of the two previous courts with Court 2 built in the south-eastern corner of the grounds. 
Andrew Marshall ©