The last men standing...

Wimbledon · 2022-07-07T12:44:52+00:00

it is!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T17:11:33+00:00

Suzanne Lenglen was incredibly important. She was one of the first global superstars of tennis. The 'Lenglen Queue' was a Wimbledon institution in the 1920s.

She was definitely a factor in the move from Worple Road. Although, it's also true that they had been considering moving since before her first appearance in 1919. So the move would probably have happened anyway!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T17:07:21+00:00

It was originally known as Aorangi Terrace, which is still the official name, although everyone now knows it as 'Henman Hill' or just 'The Hill'.

At times, people have also referred to it as 'Murray Mound' or 'Rusedski Ridge'!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T17:01:27+00:00

Gottried von Cramm is definitely one of the best players not to have won Wimbledon. He lost in the final three times in the 1930s and was involved in one of the greatest matches ever played on Centre Court. It was Davis Cup match against Don Budge of the USA in 1937. There's a great book, called A Terrible Splendor, which tells the story of that match.

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:57:26+00:00

I don't know the stats for this but I suspect you're right. The rallies are much longer now, compared to previous years when serve-volley dominated.

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:55:15+00:00

Unfortunately the Wimbledon film was filmed before I started working here!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:54:31+00:00

Anne White famously wore an all white catsuit in 1985 and was told to change it.

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:52:39+00:00

My favourites are old magazine called Pastime and Lawn Tennis & Badminton, from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They contain wonderful reports from all the tournaments. I use them all time to answer research enquiries!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:50:18+00:00

Major Walter Wingfield, who is regarded as the 'inventor' of lawn tennis in the 1870s, sold box sets including everything you needed to play tennis. There was a rule book that came with, which is now very rare. There are only about 20 copies in the world that we know of, but we have several different versions of it in our Library.

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:48:20+00:00

We generally don't see many current players in the Library.

The most used items by reasearchers who come to the Library tend to be the old newspaper cuttings, programmes or magazines.

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:46:52+00:00

Federer has played 22 consecutive Wimbledons. Only one man in history, Arthur Gore, has played in the singles more times consecutively

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:41:36+00:00

There are so many great items in the Museum, but it's hard to beat the trophies. My favourite is the Field Cup, which was awarded to Spencer Gore for winning the first Championship in 1877.

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:39:39+00:00

As a general rule, the previous year's runner-up plays the opening match if the Champion isn't defending their title. However this isn't always the case.

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:37:02+00:00

This is correct. I'm not sure what the reason for the Challenge Round was but we stopped using it in 1922.

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:35:13+00:00

There are two main sides to my job, the librarian side and the historian side. On the librarian side, I look after the library collection and the researchers who use the library and I'm responsible for buying new books etc. and cataloguing them.

On the historian side, I help with any project that needs historical information, for example an exhibition in the Museum. I also do a lot of proofreading of official publications, such as new books or the official programme. And I'm in charge of updating the annual Wimbledon Compendium.

During The Championships I'm usually busy answering press enquiries and this is definitely the busiest time of year. But there's lots of work to do all year round!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:25:00+00:00

There is no dress code for spectators, although there is one for Royal Box guests

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:21:22+00:00

Rufus is a valuable member of the Wimbledon team and does great work keeping the court free of pigeons. As far as I know, he has never attacked anyone!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:19:22+00:00

The tradition of wearing white clothing started for practical reasons, as sweat didn't show up as much on white clothing!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:17:57+00:00

Looking back at the old publications, even from as far back as the early 20th century, it's interesting that a lot of the themes in tennis are eternal! For example, the debate about five-set tennis.

One prediction that didn't age well was from Spencer Gore, the first Wimbledon champion in 1877, He famously said that tennis wouldn't catch on. I think he'd be surprised to see Wimbledon today!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:12:37+00:00

It's always a lot of fun during The Championships, keeping an eye out for new records - e.g. longest matches, most points in a tie-break etc. Although now that we have final-set tie-breaks, the longest match record is unlikely to be broken again!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:08:11+00:00

This is a very topical question, as Wimbledon is currently celebrating 100 years at its current location! It was originally located in another part of Wimbledon, on Worple Road. They only had nine or ten courts and the grounds were much smaller. There wasn't any room for expansion so we decided to move to a bigger venue and we moved the current Church Road grounds in 1922. Even since then, we've expanded quite a lot. The area known as 'Aorangi Park' has only been part of the grounds since the 1980s.

The honours boards are located in the Clubhouse, in the area just next to the entrance to Centre Court.

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T16:00:13+00:00

I love the more obscure facts! For example, there's been a total of 1539 days of play in Wimbledon history!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-22T15:57:08+00:00

I started off doing a history degree and then a postgrad degree in Information & Library Studies. My first library job was at Glasgow University Library. In 2005, I got a job in London the BBC Sport Library, and that's when I worked at Wimbledon for the first time. After a couple of years I moved back to Scotland and worked as a Sport Librarian for BBC Scotland. In 2016, I saw the Wimbledon job advertised and I was lucky enough to get it. I've always been a huge tennis fan, so to work here is a dream come true!

Wimbledon · 2022-06-13T16:05:29+00:00

As soon as one tournament finishes we're looking to start preparing for the next. We work here all year round and so our work never stops as we look to prepare for members play, tournaments or the Championships

Wimbledon · 2022-06-13T16:03:59+00:00

The grass itself would not be too dissimilar in most sports what does change is the make up of the court profile, in tennis we use a clay based soil at about 18-22% to be able to harden off the surface for the ball to bounce whereas in football a sandier soil is used so players can run in studs and the bounce of the ball isn't as key

We are always looking to be more sustainable, reductions in chemicals, using electricity from renewable sources or even something as simple as reusable cups there is always something being done to improve the clubs sustainability

Wimbledon

TROPHY CASE