It was to raise funds for the repair of a broken pony roller, so essential for the upkeep of the lawns at their ground in Nursery Lane, Wimbledon, that the All England Croquet Club first decided to hold a tennis tournament.
From those humble beginnings in 1877 The Championships at Wimbledon have grown to become one of the worlds great international sporting occasions.
In this lavishly illustrated and massively expanded third edition of the definitive Wimbledon history John Barrett has traced the process by which a small private tennis club in rural Surrey has become a multi-million pound business that is the main source of finance for British tennis.
It is a romantic story that reflects the ages, decade by decade, from the chivalrous Victorian days when the whalebone stays the ladies wore beneath their ankle-length dresses often drew blood and the gentlemen played in striped shirts, cricket caps and long stockings, to todays white-clad gladiators in functional attire befitting super-fit international athletes of the 21st century.
Within these pages you will find all the games heroes and heroines captured in action and in vivid detail through the lenses of the worlds leading sports photographers.
