![]() ![]() ![]() Soldiers nearby used the grounds for training and military functions, and Centre Court was hit by a bomb and suffered huge losses of seats. Wimbledon continued to thrive after its move and hosted some of the world's best tennis players until it was put on hold once again during World War II. The centerpiece of that stadium, the current Centre Court, held 14,000 spectators and did wonders in expanding the tournament's prestige and popularity. Since that year, only two British men have won the men's singles event.Īfter play was interrupted during World War I, the tournament moved into a new home when the club built much larger grounds on Church Road across town in Wimbledon. Two years later (as Sutton won her second title), Australian Norman Brookes won the men's singles competition, becoming the first men's international winner. In 1905, the Championships had its first overseas titleholder: American May Sutton, who won the ladies' singles. That period of surging interest among London spectators became known as the "Renshaw Rush."īy 1900, Wimbledon was of international interest. The growth of the sport and of the Wimbledon Championships was owed partly to the success of William and Ernest Renshaw, British twins who combined for 13 singles and doubles titles in eight years between 18. Tennis was beginning to grow in popularity as a spectator sport. Gentlemen's doubles were introduced in the same year, after the Oxford University club ended its doubles championship in 1883. Maud Watson was the first champion of that 1884 ladies' singles competition, winning out of a field of 13. Seven years after the first tournament, women were invited to play for the first time. ![]() ![]() From the formation of the event until 1922, the previous year's champion received a bye into the final round, resulting in multiple repeat winners in the tournament's first few decades. The tournament was considered a success, and it became an annual event. About 200 spectators attended the tournament. The first winner was Spencer Gore, who beat out a 22-man field. In 1877, the first year of the Lawn Tennis Championship, the club hosted only a gentlemen's singles competition. The club decided to host a championship and, before it could do so, put together a set of rules and regulations for the sport (which are very similar to those used today). Mauresmo was a strong and rangy athlete, but her backhand versatility gave her game added dimensions, and threw off the rhythm of opponents who were used to facing straightforward two-handed power.The Wimbledon Championships began in 1877, when the All England Club, founded solely as a croquet club, embraced the fast-growing sport of lawn tennis. While she would never repeat Noah’s feat on the terre battue, her backhand was instrumental in her title runs on Australian Open hard courts and Wimbledon grass. Mauresmo was hooked on tennis at age 4, when she watched Yannick Noah use his own one-hander to break down the seemingly unbreakable Mats Wilander in the 1983 Roland Garros final. The Frenchwoman could come over the ball for topspin, cut under it for backspin and touch, and, when pressed, could rip through it for a flat passing-shot winner that left her opponent wondering what just happened. But Mauresmo’s belongs in the conversation as well. When we think of the great one-handed women’s backhands of this century, we usually start by raving about Justine Henin’s, and then saving a thought for Ash Barty’s and Carla Suarez Navarro’s. ![]()
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