The oldest as well as the most prestigious lawn tennis championships is held in Wimbledon every year. Commonly known only as the Wimbledon, spending the days there watching tennis is a dream come true for tennis lovers all over the world. The Wimbledon championship is a two week long tournament usually held in late June and early July.
The Wimbledon Championships is organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club jointly with The Lawn Tennis Association. The Wimbledon Tennis Championships started in 1877 and the only event hosted back then was the Gentlemen's Singles. The Club added the Ladies' Singles and Gentlemen's Doubles events in 1884 and then in 1913 it further added to the list of events by introducing the Ladies' Doubles and Mixed Doubles events.
The reigning champion of Wimbledon till 1922 had to only play in the finals against the person who won through the championship and had reached the finals. The Championship at Wimbledon was first televised in 1937.
The All England Club moved to its current location on Church Road in 1922. The lawns of the Club were designed in a way that the famous Centre court is situated in the middle of the lawns, hence the court gets its name. The other famous Wimbledon court which is the Court No.1 was opened by the Club in 1997. In 2009, a retractable roof was attached to the Centre court to prevent delays caused by rains.
Apart from the five main events which are the Gentlemen's and Ladies' Singles; the Gentlemen's and Ladies' Doubles and the Mixed Doubles, the Wimbledon championships host events for juniors and few invitational events. The junior events also known as Chimbledon include four events which are the Boys' Singles, Boys' Doubles, Girls' Singles and Girls' Doubles. There is no Mixed Doubles event hosted in the Championships for juniors. The invitational events include the Gentlemen's Invitation Doubles, Senior Gentlemen's Invitation Doubles, Ladies' Invitation Doubles, Gentlemen's Wheelchair Doubles and Ladies' Wheelchair Doubles.
All matches except the Gentlemen's Singles and Gentlemen's Doubles are played in the pattern of best of three sets, whereas those two events are played in best of five sets. The events of Gentlemen's, Senior Gentlemen's and Ladies' Invitation Doubles are round-robin tournaments, while all other events are single-elimination tournaments. Players and doubles pairs are admitted in the main events on the basis of their international ranking, but sometimes their previous performance in grass courts events are also considered. The Committee can also give a wild card entry to a player who has performed exceptionally well in previous tournaments.
The Wimbledon championship trophies are exceptionally beautiful and add to the prestige of the tournament. The Gentlemen's Singles trophy is a silver gilt cup and the Ladies' Singles trophy is a sterling silver salver commonly known as the 'Venus Rosewater Dish'. Prize money to champions was first awarded in 1968.
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