Tickets are now on sale for Wimbledon, one of our most anticipated events of the summer calendar, which will be running from 27 June to 10 July. There is limited availability for some dates so we strongly recommend that you secure your booking as soon as you can.
The Championships were first held in Wimbledon in 1877 and the players had to pay a guinea to compete. Lawn tennis was then only a very new sport – it had been devised in the previous year as an outdoor version of ‘real tennis’. From the very first tournament until the present day, strawberries and cream have been a popular refreshment for spectators.
The word ‘tennis’ comes from the French tenez, meaning ‘take heed’. Henry VIII was a huge fan of the sport; he had courts built in several of his palaces and was renowned for playing very enthusiastically!
Photo credit: © Wally Gobetz, CC BY-ND 2.0