Interesting Facts About Wimbledon

Summer in Britain is announced every June with a two-week tennis tournament known as The Championships, Wimbledon. Wimbledon, as it is commonly called, is hosted by the All England Club in the Wimbledon region, suburb of London. Wimbledon is one of four tournaments that make up the Grand Slam of Tennis. The early summer tournament at Wimbledon stands as the world's oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament.

Wimbledon began its humble beginnings in 1877. Just 200 spectators donated shillings per person to watch Spencer Gore defeat William Marshall in the final to become the first Wimbledon champion. Gore failed to defend his title the following year when Frank Haddow, the founder of the shooting lobby, beat him in the final. After his defeat, Gore quickly dropped out of the tournament tennis. A total of 64 different men have won the Gentlemen title since then.

More than 100 years later, 32,036 attendees gathered on the last day at Wimbledon to watch Spanish Rafael Nadal successfully defend his title against Tomas Berdych. Attendance at the two weeks of the 2010 tournament was almost half a million while an additional five million were televised worldwide. Wimbledon was first shown on television in 1937 by the British Broadcasting Corporation, which now owns Wimbledon broadcasting rights. The British government authorizes the Finals to be shown live on television.

Wimbledon contains singles and singles competitions. Although most people are familiar with Wimbledon’s Gentlemen’s and Ladies ’high-profile events, there are also sections for young, old and wheelchair users. In all, there are fourteen hero events.

Wimbledon champion registration is full of tennis legends. The record for most Gentlemen's Singles titles is seven shared by William Renshaw and Pete Sampras. Sampras won his titles at the modern Open Era where professionals were allowed to compete at Wimbledon. Prior to 1968, participation was limited to beginners. Martina Navritalova holds the record for nine Ladies' Singles titles. He has achieved six of these in successive years. Other notable champions include seven-time winner Steffi Graf and six-time winners Roger Federer and Billie Jean King. Bjorn Borg and Venus Williams won Wimbledon five times each.

Wimbledon culture abounds. The most important of these rituals are the grass-covered courts where the Championships are contested. Wimbledon is the last of the grassroots tennis tournaments - a strong, unpredictable venue that loves big boxers. The traditional colors of Wimbledon are green and purple. Until 2006, all officials wore green. Players are required to wear white even though some color marks creep into the field. The delicious tradition of eating at Wimbledon devours strawberries and cream. Thousands of pounds of strawberries and gallons of ice cream are eaten at Wimbledon every summer. Wimbledon has a habit of writing. On the way to the Central Court, actors must pass under two lines in Rudyard Kipling's poem, "If". And again, it would not be England without rain. Only six competitions have gone without rain interruptions since 1922.

Every game has its main events. Baseball plays the World Series. Hockey teams slip to Stanley Cup. Winning at the Masters is considered to be the highest golf achievement. But none of these events can compare with the long history, colorful traditions and famous tennis champions of Wimbledon.