Editing Wimbledon, London (section)

==The Tennis Championships==
{{Main|Wimbledon Championships}}
[[File:Centre Court roof.jpg|thumb|2010 Wimbledon Championships]]
In the 1870s, at the bottom of the hill on land between the railway line and Worple Road, the All-England Croquet Club had begun to hold its annual championships. But the popularity of [[croquet]] was waning as the new sport of [[Tennis|lawn tennis]] began to spread, and after initially setting aside just one of its lawns for tennis, the club decided to hold its [[1877 Wimbledon Championship|first Lawn Tennis Championship in July 1877]]. By 1922, the popularity of tennis had grown to the extent that the club's small ground could no longer cope with the numbers of spectators and the renamed [[All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club]] moved to new grounds close to Wimbledon Park.

Wimbledon historian Richard Milward recounts how King [[George V]] opened the new courts. "He (the king) gave three blows on a gong, the tarpaulins were removed, the first match started – and the rain came down." The club's old grounds continue to be used as the sports ground for [[Wimbledon High School]].