Wimbledon: Oldest Tennis Tournament Turns 140

The oldest tennis tournament in the world, The Championships, Wimbledon not only commences but turns 140 today. You probably won’t miss it if you avidly use Google search as a Doodle has been dedicated to this milestone. It features a green background that represents Wimbledon’s grass courts and two animated tennis rackets. The Google letters are the cute audience who cheer for the point maker, with the letter L representing the umpire.

The first Wimbledon Championship took place on 9th July 1877 held by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The inaugural championship only featured the Gentlemen’s Singles, which was won by old Harrovian racketsplayer Spencer Gore.

This year’s Wimbledon championship tournament runs from 3rd to 16th July.

Exciting Wimbledon Opening

Men’s Singles defending champion Andy Murray is set to face 20-year-old newbie Alexander Sascha Bublik. The Russian may only have six tour-level matches under his belt but the Scot said he is not 100% due to pain in his left hip. Two-time winner Rafael Nadal will take on Aussie John Millman on No.1 Court on the first day. Millman is not backing down as he believes it is disrespectful to face the Spaniard with the expectation to lose.

Women’s Singles 2016 champion Serena Williams will be missing in action this year after announcing her pregnancy last April. Her sister Venus, was involved in a fatal car accident on 9th June but has confirmed to join the tournament. The number 10 seed faces Elise Mertens, who has had quite a difficult 2017 thus far.

Petra Kvitova returns to Wimbledon after a questionable future following a burglar (knife) attack last winter that led a to left-hand surgery. She will be facing Swedish Johanna Larsson at the Centre court. The former has a 4-0 record (2-0 at tour level) against the latter. New mother Victoria Azarenka will face CiCi Bellis, who will be making her Wimbledon debut. It may be the American’s first Wimbledon appearance but she just recently made the semifinals in the Mallorca Open.

Wimbledon Day 1 Schedule

Here is the complete list order of play on the show courts for today, 3rd July.

Centre Court (from 1pm BST)

• (1) Andy Murray (GB) v Alexander Bublik (Kaz)
• Johanna Larsson (Swe) v (11) Petra Kvitova (Cze)
• Daniil Medvedev (Rus) v (5) Stan Wawrinka (Swi)

Court One (from 1pm BST)

• Elise Mertens (Bel) v (10) Venus Williams (USA)
• (4) Rafael Nadal (Spa) v John Millman (Aus)
• (6) Johanna Konta (GB) v Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe)

Court Two (from 11.30am BST)

• (12) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) v Cameron Norrie (GB)
• Marina Erakovic (NZ) v (2) Simona Halep (Rom)
• Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) v (7) Marin Cilic (Cro)
• Maryna Zanevska (Bel) v Heather Watson (GB)

Court Three (from 11.30am BST)

• (20) Nick Kyrgios (Aus) v Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra)
• Ashleigh Barty (Aus) v Elina Svitolina (Ukr)
• (21) Ivo Karlovic (Cro) v Aljaz Bedene (GB)
• (13) Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Blr)