Which is the oldest tennis tournament in the world?

The Wimbledon Championships, held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. It was first held in July 1877.

The first Wimbledon (1877):

• Only a men's singles event was held, with 22 players.
• Spencer Gore won the first title.
• The women's singles was added in 1884, and Maud Watson was the first women's champion.

Special features of Wimbledon:

• It is the only Grand Slam tournament still played on grass courts, the original surface of lawn tennis.
• It is held over two weeks in late June and early July.
• Players must wear almost completely white clothing.
• Traditions include eating strawberries and cream and the absence of advertising on the courts.
• The men's singles champion receives a gilded silver cup, and the women's singles champion receives the Venus Rosewater Dish.
• Hawk-Eye has replaced human line judges since 2025.

The four Grand Slam tournaments, in order of their founding:

• Wimbledon (1877): grass, London.
• US Open (1881): hard court (since 1978), New York; earlier played at Newport and then Forest Hills.
• French Open (1891): clay, Roland Garros, Paris; open to international players since 1925.
• Australian Open (1905): hard court, Melbourne.

Indian connections:

• Ramanathan Krishnan reached the Wimbledon singles semi-finals in 1960 and 1961.
• Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won the Wimbledon men's doubles in 1999.
• Sania Mirza won the Wimbledon women's doubles in 2015 with Martina Hingis.

Records:

Roger Federer has won the most men's singles titles at Wimbledon (8), and Martina Navratilova the most women's singles titles (9).

Why not the other options?

• ✗The US Open began in 1881.
• ✗The French Open began in 1891.
• ✗The Australian Open began in 1905.