All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club

Brief information

The club that is now almost automatically associated with Wimbledon began not with tennis, but with croquet. In 1875, one croquet lawn was given over to the new game, and this small change of purpose became a turning point: just two years later, the first Wimbledon singles tournament was held here.

The club’s name still preserves this turning point. Tennis quickly became its main specialty, and croquet even disappeared from the name for a time, but in 1889 it was restored “as a tribute to tradition.” So the word “croquet” here is not decorative antiquity, but a trace of the place’s former function. The grass courts are also important not as a pretty backdrop: they are where the oldest Grand Slam tournament is played, and the only one of the four held on grass.

What to notice first

It makes sense to look at the club as a territory where an old lawn turned into a system of specialized courts. The grass courts are the main visible logic of the place: there are 19 tournament courts and 16 practice courts here. Clay courts are mentioned alongside them as well, so the surface helps distinguish Wimbledon’s tournament tradition from the club’s broader sports infrastructure.

Centre Court shows another scale of this same history. It is no longer simply a grass court, but a stadium with 15,000 seats. The retractable roof, built in 2009, changes the meaning of the grass court: matches on it can be held in any weather. This creates a precise contrast for observation: the club preserves the tournament’s grass foundation, while stadium capacity and technical protection from the weather have grown up around it.