Wimbledon 25th June 2012 - 8th July 1012

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club host the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, WIMBLEDON. Founded in 1877 and known as 'The Championships' or simply WIMBLEDON, it is one of four 'Grand Slam' tournaments played annually on the tennis circuit, the others being the Australian Open, French )pen (Roland Garros), and the US Open.

The tournament which runs for two weeks takes place in late June to early July and is commonly associated with the tradition of eating strawberries and cream. In contrast to the other Grandslams which are played on either hard court or clay, WIMBLEDON is played on grass and has a strict code of dress for both men and women competitors.

From 1877 to 1883 the tournament was a mens singles only, then in 1884 it was expanded to include a mens doubles and a womans singles until 1913 when the womans doubles and mixed doubles were added.1968 saw it become an open tournament as per the other Grand Slams.

Although played in England the last English player to win the tournament was Virginia Wade who took the womans singles title way back in 1977, and Fred Perry the mens title even further back in 1936.

Many great players have graced the lawns of WIMBLEDON and have set standards of not only competitiveness, but of graciousness and decorum, but as in any walk of life there have been exceptions, John McEnroe being one of them, but by far being out weighed by the likes of Pete Sampras and Stefan Edberg, and the ladies by Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.

The main attraction as with all the grandslams are the mens and ladies singles contests followed by the doubles, being the mens, ladies and mixed pairs.

Today, Wimbledon's Centre Court now sports a new retractable roof which was used for the first time at a Centre Court Celebration on Sunday 17 May 2009.

There are five divisions in this tournament:-

• Mens singles
• Ladies singles
• Mens doubles
• Ladies doubles
• Mixed doubles