WIMBLE-TON

Centre Court is 100 years old... oh I say... what drama it has given

1936 For the third year in a row a British player, Fred Perry, lifts the men’s singles trophy.

1940 Centre Court is hit by a 500lb German bomb which takes out 1,200 seats. Repairs are not completed until 1949.

1953 Maureen Connolly’s Wimbledon triumph over fellow American Doris Hart was part of her becoming the first woman to win a Grand Slam. Tragically, she died of stomach cancer at the age of just 34 in 1969.

1967 July 1, 2pm and Peter West presents Wimbledon Tennis Championships on BBC2 – the first colour television programme ever shown on the BBC.

1968 In the first Wimbledon of the Open era, Rod Laver won the men’s singles and Billie Jean King beat Judy Tegart in the women’s singles final. Both had lifted the crown twice before.

1975 American Arthur Ashe shocked compatriot Jimmy Connors in the men’s singles final to become the first, and so far only, black man to win a Wimbledon singles title.

1977 Virginia Wade receives the ladies’ singles trophy from the Queen in Silver Jubilee year.

1980 Bjorn Borg beats John McEnroe in five thrilling sets. The match is most famous for the fourth-set tie-break, which McEnroe won 18-16 – saving seven match points.

1987 Pat Cash becomes the first champion to climb up to the players’ box. Fifteen more followed suit until a gate was installed in 2014.

1990 Martina Navratilova dominated the lawns of the All England Club in the late 1970s and 80s, winning a record nine singles titles in 13 years – the final one in 1990 at the age of 33.

1993 After snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the women’s final, Jana Novotna blubs uncontrollably on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent.

1996 Cliff Richard entertained the crowd by singing in the rain during a threeand-a-halfhour break in play that felt considerably longer.

2000 Venus and Serena Williams become the first two siblings to play a singles match on Centre Court, with Venus winning their semi-final.

2008 Rafa Nadal beats Roger Federer in the greatest final ever, hitting the last shot at 9.16pm after rain delays.

2009 Andy Murray raises the new roof against Stan Wawrinka, his five-set win the first match played entirely under cover.

2013 There are tears of joy for Murray when he becomes the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years.

KING GEORGE V smote a shiny gong three times on June 26, 1922 and declared the new Centre Court open. Typically, the ceremony had been delayed for rain, but soon enough the covers were off and 100 years of history began. Leslie Godfree served the first ball against Algernon Kingscote – then grabbed it as a memento when his fellow Brit netted. But Kingscote triumphed 6-1 6-3 6-0.

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