1877: The first Championships

It all began with an announcement in the leisure magazine The Field on 9 June 1877 that "The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon, propose to hold a lawn tennis meeting, open to all amateurs, on Monday July 9th and following days".

A total of 22 men - no women were permitted at that stage - stumped up the £1 1 shilling entrance fee, being warned to bring their own rackets and “shoes without heels” but that balls would be provided by the club gardener.

The All England Club had been founded solely for the purpose of croquet in 1869 on four acres of rented meadowland at Worple Road, Wimbledon but croquet was rapidly overtaken by the new pastime of tennis.

Conditions were primitive. A temporary three-plank stand offered seats for 30 people, the total attendance for the final was 200, the rackets resembled snowshoes in shape and weight and the balls had hand-sewn flannel outer casings.