Tennis

Governing Bodies

In Britain		Lawn Tennis Association (LTA)
Globally (including wheelchair tennis and beach tennis)		International Tennis Federation (ITF)

Rules

Height of the net in the middle		3 feet
Height of the net at each end		3 feet 6 inches
Width of each tramline		4 feet 6 inches
Length of the court		26 yards
Score in games at which the tie–break comes into operation		6–6
Points to win a tie–break (minimum)		7
Number of points between changes of end, in a tie–break		6

Timeline

The first Wimbledon tournament		1877
Men's doubles first contested at Wimbledon		1879
Women's singles first contested at Wimbledon		1884
French national championships first held		1891
Davis Cup first held (as the International Lawn Tennis Challenge) – USA v. GB		1900
Australasian Championships (forerunner of the Australian Open) first held		1905
Women's doubles and mixed doubles first contested at Wimbledon		1913
The last time Wimbledon was a challenge tournament		1922
French championships opened to international competitors		1925
Fred Perry's three consecutive Wimbledon wins		1934–6
Great Britain's ninth Davis Cup win – and the last, before 2015		1937
International Lawn Tennis Challenge renamed the Davis Cup following the death of Dwight F. Davis		1945
The first Open Wimbledon (Laver beat Roche in straight sets in the final); French championships also opened to professionals (becoming the French Open); US Open first held (created by combining five separate tournaments)		1968
US Open had both Amateur and Open tournaments		1968, 1969
Australian Championships became open		1969
Tie–break introduced at Wimbledon		1971
US Open changed from grass courts to clay (changed to hard courts two years later)		1975
Sweden becomes the first non–Anglophone country to win the Davis Cup		1975
Bjorn Borg's five consecutive Wimbledon Men's Singles titles		1976 – 80
Australian Open played twice because it changed from January to December		1977
Ball girls first appeared at Wimbledon (not on Centre Court until 1988)		1977
US Open moved from Forest Hills to Flushing Meadows		1978
Catherine McTavish becomes Wimbledon's first female umpire		1979
Borg's last Wimbledon men's singles final, and his only defeat		1981
Martina Navratilova's six consecutive Wimbledon singles titles		1982–7
Australian Open not played because it changed from December back to January		1986
Yellow balls introduced (at Wimbledon)		1986
Australian Open moves from Kooyong to Flinders Park, and changes from grass courts to hard courts		1988
Martina Navratilova's record 9th Wimbledon singles title		1990
Pete Sampras wins the Wimbledon men's singles title seven years out of eight (see Richard Krajicek)		1993–2000
France wins the Davis Cup for the first time since 1932 (also won in 1996 and 2001)		1991
Roger Federer's five consecutive Wimbledon men's singles titles (he also won in 2009, 2012 and 2017)		2003–7
Roger Federer's five consecutive US Open men's singles titles		2004–8
USA wins the Davis Cup for the 32nd time (and the last, up to and including 2019 …)		2007
Wimbledon Centre Court roof used for the first time		2009
Final set tie–break introduced at Wimbledon		2019

Timeline Supplement

Won the Davis Cup 15 times in 18 years, 1950–67 (2nd to USA overall)

Australia

In the 16 years between 1956 and 1971 (inclusive), six different players from the above country won the Wimbledon men's singles competition a total of 13 times between them:

1956, 1957		Lew Hoad
1958		Ashley Cooper
1959 (USA)		Alex Olmedo
1960		Neale Fraser
1961, 1962, 1968, 1969		Rod Laver
1963 (USA)		Chuck McKinley
1964, 1965		Roy Emerson
1966 (Spain)		Manuel Santana
1967, 1970, 1971		John Newcombe

Players beaten by Bjorn Borg in Wimbledon finals:

1976

Nastase

1977, 78

Connors

1979

Tanner

1980

McEnroe

			Country		Name
Players beaten by Andy Murray in Wimbledon finals	2013		Serbia		Novak Djokovic
	2016		Canada		Milos Raonic

The only Grand Slam tournament that's ever been played on clay (except 1975–7)

French Open

Wimbledon

The other sport (apart from Tennis) mentioned in the full title of the All England Club – for which the club was originally founded in 1868		Croquet
Computer system, based on infra–red light, used to judge line calls on the ATP and WTA tours from 1980 (replaced by Hawk–Eye, in 2007 at Wimbledon)		Cyclops

For more information on Hawk–Eye, please refer to Applied Science.

Number of seeds, in each of the two main Singles competitions (Gentlemen's and Ladies')

32

Indian brothers who reached the doubles semi–finals in 1976		Amritraj (Vijay, Anand)
First black men's singles champion (1975)		Arthur Ashe
Last Briton to play in the men's singles final, before Andy Murray (1938); died 2000		Bunny Austin
Mixed Doubles champions in 1980: the first brother and sister to win a Grand Slam title together		John & Tracy Austin
British mixed doubles winners, 1987		Jeremy Bates, Jo Durie
Youngest ever (17 years 228 days, 1985), and only unseeded, men's singles champion		Boris Becker
Youngest men's singles champion, before Becker (20); won the first of his five consecutive titles without losing a set – still the only man to do so at Wimbledon		Bjorn Borg
Brazilian winner of the women's singles title 1959, 1960 and 1964 (also runner–up 1965 and 1966; also won the US Open four times in the same period)		Maria Bueno
1987 champion (Australian) – first to climb into the stands to celebrate with family and friends		Pat Cash
Beat Rosewall in the 1974 final; also won in 1982; lost finals to Ashe (1975), Borg twice (1977, 1978), McEnroe (1984 – 6–1, 6–1, 6–2)		Jimmy Connors
Beaten by Becker in the 1985 final (born in South Africa, took US citizenship just before the 1985 tournament)		Kevin Curren
Australian player who beat Becker (the champion in the previous two years) in the first round in 1987		Peter Doone
Czech–born player: beat Rosewall in the longest–ever (men's singles) final, 1954		Jaroslav Drobný drobny
Lost six doubles finals, 1965–75; but was the last French player to win a grand slam tournament (1967) before Mary Pierce in Australian Open, 1995		Francoise Durr
Men's champion 1988 – final played over two days because of rain		Stefan Edberg
Lost Wimbledon finals to Martina Navratilova in 1978, 1979, 1982, 1984 and 1985; Champion in 1974, 1976 and 1981, but beaten by Virginia Wade in the 1977 semi–final		Chris Evert (Lloyd)
Losing finalist in Martina Navratilova's record–breaking 9th (and last) Wimbledon singles victory (1990)		Zena Garrison
Born in Delray Beach, Florida, in 2004: rose to prominence in 2019, aged 15, when she defeated Venus Williams in the opening round at Wimbledon		Cori 'Coco' Gauff
The first black Wimbledon singles champion (women's, 1957; previously the first black player to win a Grand Slam singles title – French Open, 1956; died in 2003, aged 76)		Althea Gibson
Won the women's singles title in 1971 and 1980 – the longest ever gap		Evonne Goolagong (Cawley)
Winner of the first men's singles tournament (1877)		Spencer Gore
Seven Wimbledon championships, 1988 to 1997; delayed Navratilova's record 9th singles title by winning in 1988 and 1989 (won Grand Slam both years); in 1988 became the only player (to 2016) to win the Golden Slam – all four Grand Slams and the Olympics		Steffi Graf
Wimbledon men's singles champion 2002 – last before the "big four" (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray) who between them won the next 19 tournaments – up to and including 2022 (no competition 2020)		Lleyton Hewitt

The two players who contested the longest ever professional tennis match – in the first round at Wimbledon, in 2010		Winner: US, 23rd seed		John Isner
		Runner–up: French qualifier		Nicolas Mahut

Croatian player: Wimbledon (men's singles) runner–up in 1992, 1994 and 1998, but won in 2001 as a wild card entrant; beat Tim Henman in the semi–finals, after rain interrupted play with Henman leading 2–1 in sets – Henman was two points from victory at one point		Goran Ivanisevic
British winner of the 1969 Wimbledon Ladies' Singles; first left hander to win the title; also won the French Open in 1961 and 1966		Ann (Haydon–)Jones
Beaten by Ann Jones in the 1969 ladies' singles final		Billie–Jean King
Czech player who won the 1973 men's singles title after 79 of the 82 ATP players withdrew in protest at the suspension of Nikki Pilic		Jan Kodes
The only Dutch (Netherlands) winner of the men's singles title – spoiling Pete Sampras's sequence (seven wins in eight, 1993–2000) in 1996		Richard Krajicek
Won Junior Wimbledon, lost men's singles finals in 1986 (Becker) and 1987 (Cash), but never won the senior title		Ivan Lendl
French winner of the first five women's singles titles after World War I; died of leukaemia, 1934, aged 35		Suzanne Lenglen
First British male player to win a Wimbledon title after Fred Perry (Mixed Doubles, 1983)		John Lloyd
1994: first Spanish winner of the Ladies's singles, and the first apart from Navratilova and Graf to win it since 1981		Conchita Martinez
Won the 1962 Wimbledon Junior championships (son of a famous footballer)		Stanley Matthews Jr.
Ended Borg's run of 5 consecutive men's singles titles (1976–80); only player to beat Borg in a men's singles final (1981); first champion born in Germany; first singles champion not invited to join the All England Club		John McEnroe
8 women's singles titles, 1927–38 – record broken by Navratilova in 1990		Helen Moody (nee Wills)
Winner of the last all–British singles final (1961 – beat Christine Truman)		Angela Mortimer
Second left hander to win the women's singles title		Martina Navratilova
Won the last Amateur Wimbledon (1967)		John Newcombe
French Open champion in 1983 (his only Grand Slam win) – the first French winner in 37 years		Yannick Noah
Czech player: was comforted by the Duchess of Kent when she burst into tears after losing the 1993 women's singles final to Steffi Graf; won in 1998		Jana Novotná
Peruvian–born player, representing the USA: won in 1959, beating Rod Laver in the final		Alex Olmedo
Suspension in 1973 led to the withdrawal of 69 of the 72 ATP members		Nikki Pilic
Canadian player, beaten in the 2016 final by Andy Murray (seeded 6; beat Federer in the semi–final)		Milos Raonic
Junior Girls' Champion, 2008 (born in Australia in 1994, moved to Britain with her family aged 6; acquired British nationality in February 2008)		Laura Robson
Lost three Wimbledon men's singles finals to Roger Federer (2004, 2005, 2009)		Andy Roddick
Lost finals to Drobný, 1954 (aged 19) and Connors, 1974 (39)		Ken Rosewall drobny
US–born, British–based player: won 19 doubles titles (12 women's, 7 mixed), 1914–34; also losing finalist in the singles, four times; died (aged 87) on the day in 1979 when Billie–Jean King broke her record with 6 singles titles, 10 women's doubles and four mixed doubles		Elizabeth Ryan
Youngest ever Wimbledon singles champion (men or women) – 2004, 17 years 75 days)		Maria Sharapova
The only German winner of the men's singles, apart from Boris Becker (not counting John McEnroe who was born in Germany)		Michael Stich
Lost three finals in 1977, including ladies' singles to Virginia Wade		Betty Stove
US player, fined $63,000 and banned from the following year's tournament after walking off court in a tantrum at Wimbledon 1995		Jeff Tarango
Lost the last all–British singles final (1961) to Angela Mortimer		Christine Truman
Ladies' Singles champion in the Queen's Silver Jubilee year (1977)		Virginia Wade
Wimbledon champion with a Maths degree from Sussex University

Players

Jamie Murray

Up to and including 2020, Jamie Murray has won a total of seven grand slam doubles titles – with four different partners:

Year	Tournament			Nationality		Name
2007	Wimbledon	Mixed		Serbian		Jelena Janković jankovic
2016	Australian Open	Men's		Brazilian		Bruno Soares
2016	US Open	Men's		Brazilian		Bruno Soares
2017	Wimbledon	Mixed		Swiss		Martina Hingis
2017	US Open	Mixed		Swiss		Martina Hingis
2018	US Open	Mixed		US		Bethanie Mattek–Sands
2019	US Open	Mixed		US		Bethanie Mattek–Sands

The 'Four Musketeers'

Four French players who dominated men's tennis from around 1924 to 1932, between them winning 20 Grand Slam singles titles and 23 doubles:

Jean Borotra

Jacques Brugnon

Henri Cochet

Rene Lacoste

Tim Henman

Tim Henman's highest ranking on the ATP world tour (on three separate occasions, between 2002 and 2004)

4

Other

Oldest man to be ranked world no. 1 (aged 33, 2003); second (after Laver) to win the Career Slam in the Open era (when he won the French Open in 1999)		Andre Agassi
Youngest ever US Open women's singles champion (1979 and 1981, aged 16 and 18); also Wimbledon mixed doubles champion in 1980, with her elder brother John		Tracy Austin
Born in Kiev, 1983; her father was a footballer who played for Ipswich Town, St. Johnstone and Inverness Caledonian Thistle; moved to Ipswich aged 5 and Perth aged 6; highest world ranking 49, in 2010; represented Great Britain in the Fed Cup, 2002–13; retired in November 2013; diagnosed with liver cancer in January 2014; died in May 2014, aged 30		Elena Baltacha
Second and last British player to win a French singles title (1976)		Sue Barker
Won the Australian and French opens in 1974, aged 17/18; went on to win 6 French Opens (1974–81) and 4 US Opens (1976–81) as well as 5 consecutive Wimbledons (1976–80) – but only the one Australian Open		Bjorn Borg
First grand slam winner (1938); then went professional		Donald Budge
Youngest–ever champion of any men's Grand Slam event (French Open, 1989 – 17 yrs 110 days – Boris Becker was 118 days older when he won Wimbledon in 1985)		Michael Chang
Belgian player: US Open champion 2005, 2009, 2010; Australian Open champion 2011; in 2009, became the first mother since 1980 to win a Grand Slam title		Kim Clijsters
First woman to win the Grand Slam (1953); won every Grand Slam tournament she ever entered, from the US Open in 1951 (aged 16) to Wimbledon 1954 – total 9 (didn't play in the 1954 Australian Open); 2 weeks after Wimbledon 1954 (aged 19), she suffered a riding accident that ended her career		Maureen Connolly
Men's World No. 1 for a record 160 weeks, 1974–7; most career titles in the Open era (men's)		Jimmy Connors
American player: won the French Open in 1991 and 1992, and the Australian Open in 1992 and 1993, but beaten by Stefan Edberg in his only US Open final (1991) and Sampras in his only Wimbledon final (1993 – Sampras's first title)		Jim Courier
Second woman to win the Grand Slam (1970); won a record 24 grand slam singles titles, also 19 women's doubles and 14 mixed doubles (62 in all – many of them in the Australian Open, which some say didn't attract a world–class entry in her day)		Margaret Court
Argentinian player: the last non–European to win a Grand Slam men's singles tournament, as of 2017 (won the US Open in 2009)		Juan Martin del Potro
Won the singles title at the Australian Tennis Championships in six years out of seven, between 1961 and 1967; also won the other three Grand Slam singles titles twice each in the same period		Roy Emerson
The first player to be officially ranked women's No. 1 (November 1975 – April 1976); won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 1974–86 (2 Australian, 7 French, 3 Wimbledon, 6 US)		Chris Evert
Men's World No. 1 for 237 consecutive weeks, 2004–8 (302 weeks altogether, 2004–12)		Roger Federer
Partnered John McEnroe in seven of his nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles (the first four of five at Wimbledon, and the first three of four at the US Open – all spanning the years 1979–84)		Peter Fleming
US coach who worked with Andy Murray for 16 months, 2006–7; previously worked with Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick		Brad Gilbert
Won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, 1987–99 – a record for the Open era, until beaten by Serena Williams in 2017 (see also Margaret Court)		Steffi Graf
Won the "Golden Slam" (4 Grand Slam events plus the Olympics) in 1988 – the only player to do so, until at least 2020
Became the youngest man ever to be ranked world no. 1, in 2001		Lleyton Hewitt
Youngest–ever champion of any Grand Slam event, men's or women's (Australian Open, 1997 – 16 yrs 117 days)		Martina Hingis
Partnered Jamie Murray to the second of his two Wimbledon mixed doubles titles (2017), and the first of his three US Open ditto (also 2017)
The first black player to win a Grand Slam singles title (French Open, 1956; also won both Wimbledon and the US Open, in 1957 and 1958; died in 2003, aged 76)		Althea Gibson
Won a total of 39 Grand Slam titles (including 20 at Wimbledon) between 1961 and 1980 – 12 singles (6 at Wimbledon), 16 women's doubles (10), 11 mixed doubles (4)		Billie–Jean King
Second and last men's Grand Slam winner, and the only one in the professional era; first man to win the Grand Slam twice (1962, 1969)		Rod Laver
Winner of eight men's Grand Slam titles, 1982–90 (3 French Open, 3 US Open, 2 Australian Open) – more than anyone else in those years		Ivan Lendl
Appeared in 8 consecutive US Open singles finals, 1982–9 – winning in 1985, 1986 and 1987; also appeared in two Wimbledon finals, but lost both (to Becker in 1986 and Cash in 1987)
British player who reached the final of the Australian Open Men's Singles in December 1977 (the year the tournament was held twice); also won three Grand Slam Mixed Doubles titles with Wendy Turnbull (Australia): French Open in 1982, Wimbledon in 1983 and 1984)		John Lloyd
American doubles specialist: partnered Jamie Murray to the second and third of his three mixed doubles titles in the US Open (2018 and 2019)		Bethanie Mattek–Sands
Australian Open and Wimbledon singles champion, 2006: became the first woman to coach a top ten male player, when engaged by Andy Murray in 2014		Amélie Mauresmo
First British player to win a French singles title (1955)		Angela Mortimer
2005–7: first since Borg to win three consecutive French Open Men's Singles		Rafael Nadal
The first player to be officially ranked men's No. 1 (August 1973–June 1974); twice a Wimbledon finalist (1972 and 1976), won the US Open in 1972 and the French Open in 1973		Ilie Nastase
Replaced the above after 40 weeks (June 1974), becoming the second official men's World No. 1; still one of the few men to have been ranked No. 1 in both singles and doubles		John Newcombe
First British player to win the US Championships singles (1930)		Betty Nuthall
American partnership, won 20 Grand Slam doubles titles between 1942 and 1957; between them, also won 12 singles titles (6 each), 18 mixed doubles (10/8) and 2 other ladies' doubles (1 each) – total 72		Margaret Osborne DuPont
		Louise Brough
First man to win all four Grand Slam events (not in same year)		Fred Perry
Australian player: won the US Open in 1997 and 1998, and lost the Wimbledon finals in 2000 and 2001		Pat Rafter
Wimbledon champion 1939, US Open champion 1939 and 1941; beaten in three straight sets (6–4, 6–3, 6–3) by Billie–Jean King in 1978 in a challenge match that became known as the 'Battle of the Sexes', with a $100,000 'winner–takes–all' prize (he was 55, she was 29)		Bobby Riggs
US Open Women's Singles champion, 1990: the only player from Argentina to have won a Grand Slam singles title in the open era		Gabriela Sabatini
Won the Wimbledon men's singles title seven times out of eight, 1993–2000, and the US Open five times between 1990 and 2002		Pete Sampras
Became the youngest ever Australian women's singles champion, in 1991 (aged 17)		Monica Seles
World No. 1, stabbed by a fan of her rival Steffi Graf, during a match in the WTA Hamburg tournament, April 1993
Israeli–born player, defaulted a rubber against Britain's Kyle Edmund (in which he was already two sets down), while playing for Canada in the 2017 Davis Cup, after inadvertently hitting the umpire (Arnaud Gabas) in the eye with a ball hit away in anger (aged 17)		Dennis Shapovalov
Russian: became the youngest ever Wimbledon champion in 2004 (aged 17 years 75 days); completed the career grand slam in 2012 by winning the French Open; banned for two years in 2016 after testing positive for meldonium during the Australian Open		Maria Sharapova
American player: partnered Martina Navratilova to 20 of her 29 Women's (or Ladies') Grand Slam Doubles titles, including an actual Grand Slam in 1984		Pam Shriver
Brazilian player: partnered Jamie Murray to the Australian Open and US Open men's doubles titles in 2016		Bruno Soares
Unofficially ranked No. 1 for each of the years 1920 to 1925, winning the US championships in all six of those years plus 1929; also won Wimbledon in 1920, 1921 and 1930; nicknamed 'Big Bill'		W. T. (Bill) Tilden
Won the first Open women's singles title at the US Championships (1968), five months after turning professional; the only British player to win a US Open singles title, before Andy Murray		Virginia Wade
The only British woman to have won titles at all four Grand Slam tournaments (US Open singles 1968, Australian Open singles 1972, Wimbledon singles 1977; Australian, French and US Open doubles, all in 1973, and US Open doubles in 1975; all doubles titles with Margaret Court)
The last British player to win a Grand Slam singles title, before Andy Murray in 2012 (US Open); and the last British woman before Emma Raducanu in 2021 (also US Open)
Beat Djokovic in the quarter–finals of the Australian Open men's singles in 2014 – his only defeat in this tournament between 2010 and 2016		Stan Wawrinka
Winner of seven men's Grand Slam singles titles in the 1980s – more than anyone else except Lendl; but never got past the quarter–finals at Wimbledon		Mats Wilander
Beat Steffi Graf's record for the most Grand Slam singles titles in the Open era, with her 23rd in the 2017 Australian Open (see also Margaret Court)		Serena Williams

Other

Captain of Britain's Davis–Cup–Winning team in 2015		Leon Smith
Host city of the 2015 Davis Cup final		Ghent

The British National Championships were held, before being scrapped in 2003, at			Telford
Women's equivalent of the Davis Cup, first held in 1963	1963–94		Federation Cup
	1995–201		Fed Cup
	Renamed in 2020, in honour of		Billie Jean King
Women's international competition contested by USA and Great Britain, 1923–89			Wightman Cup

US Open

Venue for the US Open, from its foundation in 1968 until 1977		Forest Hills
Venue for the US Open since 1978		Flushing Meadows
Both Forest Hills and Flushing Meadows are in		Queens, New York
Larger, newer court at Flushing Meadows		Arthur Ashe Stadium

Second largest court at Flushing Meadows

Louis Armstrong Stadium

Australian Open

Venue for the Australian Open, since 1988		Melbourne Park
Former name of Melbourne Park (until 1996): (The National Tennis Centre at)		Flinders Park
Venue for the Australian Championships / Open, 1972–87 (previously held in various cities)		Kooyong LTC, Melbourne

French Open

Official name of the French Open: Tournoi de (same name as the venue)

Roland Garros

Other

Club in Kensington, whose annual championship is regarded as the warm–up tournament for Wimbledon (for men); sponsored since 2009 by Aegon, previously by Stella Artois

Queen's Club

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23