Wimbledon - Greater London

About Wimbledon - Greater London

You can't mention Wimbledon without mentioning the Lawn Tennis Club, so here's some information...

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is a private Club founded in 1868, originally as 'The All England Croquet Club'. In 1875 lawn tennis was added to the activities of the Club. In 1877 the Club was re-titled 'The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club' and signalled its change of name by instituting the first Lawn Tennis Championship. The rules have not changed in all that time except for court details such as the height of the net and posts and the distance of the service line from the net. Ladies first played in 1884.

For the first time ever (2007) the prize money for the ladies singles winner actually matched that of the mens winner, £700,000. Although previously the women had received 90% (people often think that it was more like 50%) there was always an argument that the women were getting paid less. I don't see it that way myself as the women only play 3 sets instead of 5 - but such is life!

A few records from the Wimbledon website: In recent years* long-standing records have been broken. In 1980 Bjorn Borg of Sweden became the first player to win the Gentlemen's Singles five times in succession since the 1880s. In 1985 Boris Becker became the youngest player, the first unseeded player and the first German to win the Gentlemen's Singles. In 1987 Martina Navratilova of the United States became the first player to win the Ladies' Singles six times in succession and in 1990 attained the all-time record of nine victories in the event. Pete Sampras of the United States registered his seventh win in 2000. In 2001, Goran Ivanisevic became the first wildcard to win the Gentlemen's Singles.
* 28 years ago isn't that recent! (that's like saying England had won the world cup recently)

'Henman Hill'
Its official name is Aorangi Park, but for many years it’s been called Henman Hill, periodically it was referred to as Rusedski Ridge, and in 2006 it's most definitely Murray Mound. This is the tongue-in-cheek description of a grassy bank at the Wimbledon tennis club, where fans without show court tickets traditionally gather around a giant TV screen to watch British tennis players desperately trying to win the men’s singles championship.

Murray Mound, also regularly referred to as Murray Mount, follows the tradition of naming this area based on the surname of the current top British player and an appropriate noun beginning with the same letter. It’s lucky for British fans that English has such a rich vocabulary of words referring to ‘a raised area of land’. Among the remaining possibilities are crag, knoll, peak or slope, which might tie in with other British surnames and possibly (one day) - a winner!*cough*

Wimbledon is also famous for Wimbledon FC (the crazy gang, The Dons, Wombles) as they have been known. They finished high enough in 1991–92 to become founder members of the new Premier League, and Joe Kinnear was appointed manager at the start of 1992–93. Wimbledon continued their strong form under Kinnear – the club's best seasons were 1993–94, 1994–95 and 1996–97, when Kinnear guided the club to respective sixth, ninth and eighth place finishes - during these seasons they often finished above bigger clubs like Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton and Liverpool. There were many quality players in the side, such as Robbie Earle, Lawrie Sanchez, Vinnie Jones, Dean Holdsworth, Warren Barton, Ben Thatcher and Oyvind Leonhardsen. Wimbledon came close to domestic trophy success in 1996–97, when they reached the semi finals of the FA Cup and League Cup, knocking out the holders of each Cup on the way and losing to the eventual winners in both competitions.

Following the publication of the Taylor Report, which recommended that all top-flight clubs play in all-seater stadiums, the club's owner, Sam Hammam, decided to move the club from its Plough Lane home in 1991. Wimbledon began to ground-share with local rivals Crystal Palace, an arrangement that ended up lasting over 10 years. In 2003, the club relocated sixty miles north to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire. The move cited financial reasons (though this has been contested, and the club has yet to provide certified accounts for this period). The club was relaunched the following year with new club colours and a new badge as Milton Keynes Dons, but agreed in 2007 not to make any claim to be a continuation of Wimbledon FC and has returned all artefacts prior to 2004 to the London Borough of Merton. The move away from south London was deeply unpopular both with the club's established fan base and general football supporters. Supporters of Wimbledon F.C. responded to the move by forming a new club, A.F.C. Wimbledon, which they see as the direct continuation of the sporting representation of the people of Wimbledon.

Wimbledon is also famous for the childrens fictional characters "The Wombles", but that's another story ;-)