Jose Sanchez
Research expert covering society, economy, & politics for Latin America
The Wimbledon Championships - statistics & facts
As the oldest tennis tournament in the world, a sense of history and tradition surrounds the Wimbledon Championship unlike any other of tennis' major tournaments. One major factor in this is Wimbledon being hosted at the same venue in the present day as it was back in its inaugural year of 1877 鈥 the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC) in South West London 鈥 which, after numerous expansions and renovation projects over the years, now has a seating capacity of around 40 thousand. One such renovation project was the construction of a roof on Centre Court, which was completed in 2008 and allowed for matches to carry on into the night and despite the rain. Accordingly, there has not been a whole day of play rained off at Wimbledon since 2004.
