Our archive for each decade is here:   1950s    1960s     1970s     1980s     1990s     2000s

The Championships at Wimbledon started in 1877 and the inaugural tournament was a far cry from today's two-week feast of tennis. The competition was set up in an effort to raise money for the repair of a roller and comprised of 22 entrants in the men's singles. It was the first organised tennis tournament in the world and the 27-year-old W Spencer Gore finished as champion - receiving 12 guineas for his efforts. The success of the tournament - bar the rain on the day of the final - ensured that it returned 12 months later and was going to become a constant on the sporting calender.

Since 1877, the Championships, as they are formally known, have only ever been disrupted by the World Wars, four years being lost during the First and six during the Second.

In 1884 women's singles and men's doubles championships were introduced followed in 1913 by women's doubles and mixed doubles.

The modern era of the Wimbledon Championships has been dominated by four players. In the men's game Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras won a remarkable 12 times between them in 25 years. Of the women, Martina Navratilova lifted the ladies trophy on nine occasions, to add to 10 doubles titles, while Steffi Graf captured seven singles titles of her own.

The last Briton to win the Men's title was Fred Perry in 1936, his third consecutive victory. The last British woman to win the singles title was Virginia Wade in 1977.

Details of winners for every year since 1953 appear on our archive pages.