Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Champions | ||
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Official website | ||
Location |
London United Kingdom |
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Venue | AELTC | |
Governing body | AELTC | |
Created | 1877 (established) Open Era: 1968 (49 editions) |
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Surface | Grass (1877–Present) | |
Prize money | £1,880,000 (2015) | |
Trophy | Wimbledon Cup | |
Most Amateur Era titles |
7: William Renshaw (challenge round) 3: Fred Perry (regular) |
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Most Open Era titles |
7: Pete Sampras, Roger Federer | |
Most consecutive titles Amateur Era |
6: William Renshaw (challenge round) 3: Fred Perry (regular) |
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Most consecutive titles Open Era |
5: Björn Borg Roger Federer |
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Current champion |
Andy Murray (Second title) |
The Championships, Wimbledon is an annual British tennis tournament created in 1877 and played on outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) in the Wimbledon suburb of London, United Kingdom. The Gentlemen's Singles was the first event contested in 1877.
Wimbledon is played in the last week of June and the first week of July, and has been chronologically the third of the four Grand Slam tournaments of the tennis season since 1987. The event was not held from 1915 to 1918 because of World War I and again from 1940 to 1945 because of World War II.
The Gentlemen's Singles' rules have undergone several changes since the first edition. From 1878 until 1921, the event started with a knockout phase, the All Comers' Singles, whose winner then faced the defending champion in a challenge round. The All Comers' winner was automatically awarded the title six times (1879, 1887, 1891, 1895, 1907, 1908) in the absence of the previous year's champion. The challenge round system was abolished with the 1922 edition. Since the first championships, all matches have been played at the best-of-five sets. Between 1877 and 1883, the winner of the next game at five games – all took the set in every match except the All Comers' final, and the challenge round, which were won with six games and a two games advantage. All sets were decided in this advantage format from 1884 to 1970. The lingering death best of 12 points tie-break was introduced in 1971 for the first four sets, played at eight games all until 1978 and at six games all since 1979.