8 Things You May Not Know About Wimbledon

While most British rulers catch the action from the comfort of Centre Court’s royal box, the Duke of York, the future King George VI, took to Wimbledon’s lawns as a competitor in the 1926 men’s doubles tournament. After capturing the Royal Air Force’s tennis championship, Sir Louis Greig, the duke’s mentor and advisor, garnered an automatic berth in Wimbledon and selected the future monarch to be his doubles partner. Their first-round opponents, Britons Arthur Gore and Herbert Roper Barrett, displayed little royal deference in smashing Greig and the duke in three easy sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. No doubt King Henry VIII and some other royals would have locked Gore and Barrett up in the Tower of London for such insolence, but King George VI, who remains the only royal to ever compete at Wimbledon, was gracious in defeat.

While croquet plays a distant second fiddle today, it was the All-England Club’s sole sport when the organization was formed in 1868. Lawn tennis did not appear at the All-England Croquet Club until 1875, and the first tennis championships were scheduled in 1877 to raise money to purchase a pony-drawn roller for the croquet lawns. There would be little need for the roller, however, as the club’s grassy croquet patches quickly became the domain of tennis players. By 1882, “croquet” was dropped from the club name altogether, although it later reappeared. Amid all its tennis courts, the All-England Club still has a croquet lawn today.

A local 27-year-old surveyor named Spencer Gore captured Wimbledon’s first gentlemen’s singles title in 1877. In a final delayed for days by rain, Gore won easily in less than 50 minutes before a crowd of 200 spectators. In spite of his proficiency at tennis, Wimbledon’s first champ was none too impressed with the sport, expressing his preference for cricket and reportedly declaring, “Lawn tennis is a bit boring. It will never catch on.”

Reigning champions once had far easier times retaining their titles and stringing together multiple championships. From Wimbledon’s inception in 1877 through 1921, defending singles and men’s doubles champions were automatically awarded spots in the finals as the rest of the field battled away. Unfortunately for 2011 title-holders Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova, they will need to win seven matches, just like the rest of the field, to repeat as champions.

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The outbreak of World War II forced Wimbledon’s cancellation, as civil defense and military personnel replaced elite tennis players inside the All-England Club. The grounds even became home to a small farmyard stocked with rabbits, pigs and hens. On October 11, 1940, German bombs struck a corner of the Centre Court stands and destroyed 1,200 seats. When Wimbledon resumed in 1946, the seats remained out of commission amid postwar rationing, and the grounds were not fully repaired until 1949. A military presence has persisted at Wimbledon since World War II: Hundreds of uniformed members of the United Kingdom’s armed forces volunteer as stewards to assist spectators.

British twins Ernest and William Renshaw dominated Wimbledon’s early years. During the “Renshaw Rush,” the brothers combined to win five doubles titles in the 1880s. William, aided by the automatic berth in the final, won a record six consecutive titles between 1881 and 1886. On three occasions, he defeated his brother to capture the Wimbledon crown. In addition, when Maud Watson won the first ladies’ singles tournament in 1884, she did so by defeating her sister Lillian.

For a long stint, the Wimbledon grass was not hospitable home turf for British men. Hall of Famer Fred Perry won the gentlemen’s singles when he captured the last of three consecutive titles in 1936. It was then another 77 years before another Briton, Andy Murray, finally won the title. Murray won again in 2016.

Per tradition, no tennis is played on Wimbledon’s first Sunday, making it the only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments to have an off day in the middle of the championships. However, on three occasions—1991, 1997 and 2004—rain caused such a backlog on the schedule that tradition was broken and matches were played on the first Sunday.

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