The Championships, Wimbledon Travel Guide - All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club

The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club was founded in 1868 in Church Road, Wimbledon. Originally the club was intended for the more popular sport of the time, Croquet, until Lawn Tennis was introduced in 1875.

Even though Croquet was no longer played at the club, the name was kept to honour the original sport.

The first Tennis Single Championship was held in 1977, and in 1908 it hosted the tennis section of the Summer Olympics.

Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and one of four Grand Slams, the highest level of Tournament in Tennis.

It was founded in 1877, and in his existence has had 2 other venues before settling at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Wimbledon is one of the few grass tennis tournaments in the world, with other Grand Slams played on Hard or Clay. Many Pro’s consider Wimbledon the most prestigious tournament in the world due to it’s history, presentation and high level of competition.

The Tournament is particularly famous for it’s all white dress code, and the copious amounts of strawberries and cream consumed every year. An estimated 1,920,000 strawberries are delivered to Wimbledon every year from the strawberry fields of Kent.

Wimbledon also has a Royal connection as well, ever since the Prince of Wales attended in 1907. Queen Elizabeth was patron of the All England Club from 1952 – 2016, until Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge  took over as royal patron.

The Championships, Wimbledon Court View

Below is a seating plan of The Championships, Wimbledon's All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club:

Wimbledon has a total of 18 Grass courts that can be used for competition.

Click the thumbnails above to enlarge an image of each stand and to read a more detailed description of each part of the Tournament.

There’s no shortage of bars dotted around Wimbledon to pick up perhaps a nice summer Pimms, an ice cold larger or a lovely glass of bubbly. By Centre Court are the Long Bar and the Champagne Bar. The No.1 Court has the Walled Garden Bar, Aorangi Bar and the food village. And the Southern Grounds have Cafe Perfola, Baseline Grill and Bar and Southern Bar. To read more about the bars around Wimbledon, visit the official site here.

Outside of the venue are also plenty of options for a pre or post Wimbledon beverage. The appropriately named Hand & Racquet is nearby on Wimbledon Hill Rd, along with Hemingways, The Alexandra, All Bar One Wimbledon and The Loft Wimbledon all on the same road. If you head South outside of the Tennis club you’ll come across Wimbledon High Street, and will find no shortage or Pubs or Bars friendly to all Tennis fans.

In you are feeling peckish then there are a few options at the club itself. The Food Village is by the No.1 Court, and the southern grounds have Cafe Perfola and Baseline Grill. The club is right next to Wimbledon high-street, with plenty of options of where to eat from Five guys to The White Onion.

All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Shop

The Club Shop is in the same building as the Tour and Museum. It’s normally opened 7 days a week from 7am – 10:30pm (9:30pm on Sundays).

There are also smaller shops/stalls dotted around the club where you can pick up merchandise including oversized tennis balls and Wimbledon branded baseball caps.

There is an outstanding museum and tour for those fans who really want to explore the setting for one of the largest tennis tournaments in the world. As well as viewing the current facilities, the tour/museum also focuses a lot on the history of tennis from it’s Victorian roots, to some of the former champions. There is even a Virtual Reality tour of the grand that really immerses you into sights and sounds of Wimbledon. To find out more information about booking a tour visit the official site here.

Due to Wimbledon’s popularity a public ballot was started in 1924, with the intention of making it fairer for tennis fans wanted tickets. But it’s also possible to buy hospitality packages if you don’t mind spending a bit more for a guarenteed spot. If you are feeling lucky you can queue up for a ticket on match day to try and snag one of the 500 tickets they sell for all days apart from the final 4.

Wimbledon can be found in South-London making parking spaces limited, so your best course of action is to make use of the fantastic Transport for London system. They do offer a temporary car park during the tournament adding some much needed parking spaces to the event.

Post code for the Satnav is SW19 6PE. The Wimbledon Park Temporary carpark is just a five-minute walk from the Entrance and there is also a park-and-ride service from Morden Park.

The 2 nearest stations are Southfields (5 minute walk) on the District Line & Wimbledon (15 minute walk) on both the District and Main line.