The Wimbledon Championship is the oldest of the four Grand Slam tournaments and is considered the most prestigious of the majors. The first  tennis tournament was held in 1877 at the All England Croquet and Lawn  Tennis Club. The Club did not prosper and was in danger of going bankrupt until it decided to add Lawn Tennis to its activities. The new event, which consisted solely of gentlemen's singles matches, attracted only twenty-two players and a crowd of about two hundred. The first Wimbledon final was played on Thursday, 19th July 1877. The ticket to the final cost one shilling, and the winner, Spencer GORE, was presented with the silver challenge cup and a purse of 12 guineas. The Club's grounds were four acres of meadowland between Worple Road and the railway line. Courts have grass surfaces. In 1908, the venue hosted the tennis events at the Summer Olympic Games. After moving to a new place, the old ground became the Girls' High School playing field.

In 1922, Wimbledon Championships had outgrown the ground in Worple Road, and the tennis tournament moved to a new place that became its present home on Church Road. The building of the new venue took two years and cost £140,000. Finally, the new Wimbledon arena was opened by King George V on June 22, 1922. The new stadium consists of the Centre Court and 12 grass courts. The Wimbledon tennis complex currently consists of nineteen grass courts, including two main show courts, Centre Court and No. 1 Court, used only for two weeks a year during the Championships. The exception was in 2012 when Wimbledon hosted a tennis tournament as part of the London Olympic Games. Wimbledon is sometimes referred to as SW19, after the postcode of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

The first match on Centre Court was played on June 22, 1922. The day began rainy, and the match was delayed. When the rain had relented, King George V declared the court open, and the match Leslie GODFREE vs. Algernon KINGSCOTE was begun. The Centre Court of the new stadium has a capacity of 13,800 spectators, now expanded to 15,000, and features a grass surface. Royal Box has 75 seats for the Royal Family of England and other VIPs on the south side of the Centre Court. The new retractable roof over Wimbledon's Centre Court was introduced in 2009 to enable matches to continue regardless of the weather, ensuring uninterrupted play during the Championships.

Centre Court Seating Map

Court No.1 was established in 1928. It was built on the west side of Centre Court and had a seating capacity of 7,328. New Court No.1, with a spectator capacity of 12,345, was opened in 1997 north of the Centre Court. Like the Center Court, the new No 1 Court is four stories high. "However," the Wimbledon organizers point out, "as part of the stadium is countersunk into the hillside, this ensures the roofline is no higher than Centre Court and serves to underline its desired status". The old arena was replaced by the Millennium Building, providing new media facilities for players, press, photographers, and officials. Since 2019, Court No. 1 has had a retractable roof, ensuring matches are played even in rainy weather.

Court No.1 Seating Map