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Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum
All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
Church Road
Wimbledon
London SW19 5AE
About Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum is a cutting edge family attraction unveiled by H.R.H. The Duke Of Kent in April 2006. It gained a Visit London Awards gold award for ‘Best Tourism Experience 2007’, making it a right royal family day out!
Located at the Lawn Tennis Association’s HQ, off Church Road, the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum includes unseen artefacts and displays and is open all year, except for The World Championships, when it’s available only to tournament ticket holders. For a grand family day out, however, a ticket to Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum is as thrilling as a match-point tie-breaker, and won’t be interrupted by the elements, or a Cliff singalong for that matter! Just the ticket.
The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum is housed in the Centre Court zone and outlines the history of lawn tennis from its modern origins in the 1870s, to the present day. Top draws include the original Championship trophies, video clips of some of the top players in action, and ‘real tennis’ memorabilia dating back to 1555, when it was played by royalty at Hampton Court Palace. Additionally, there’s an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the hallowed halls, taking in the Centre Court and No. 1 Court, as well as the Fred Parry Statue and Press Interview Room, ensuring an illuminating as well as enjoyable family day out.
The family attraction has an outstanding collection of memorabilia including an outfit worn by Martina Navratilova, items from Bjorn Borg, a racquet owned by Tim Henman, clothing and rackets from Venus Williams and Goran Ivanisevic, and kits presented by Jamie Murray and Jelena Jankovic.
The origins of the tournament are detailed at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, from the establishment of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 1868, as 'The All England Croquet Club'. In 1874, lawn tennis was created by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield (based on real tennis and originally called Sphairistike!), and within a year it was adopted by the Club. In 1877, 'The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club' held the first Lawn Tennis Championship. A code of rules was laid down and the Gentlemen's Singles winner was one Spencer Gore, defeating a field of 21 competitors. Around 200 people paid a shilling each to see the final.
By 1882, 'croquet' was dropped from the Club’s title (but restored in 1899 for sentimental reasons), and in 1884, the first Ladies' Singles champion was Maud Watson, who got the better of 13 entrants. By 1905, May Sutton of the United States was the first foreign Champion and so the modern era of world competition that fuels the Championships and the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum was underway.
The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum boasts a state of the art Cinema with a 200° screen surrounding the viewer in the world of The Championships with airings of The Science Of Tennis movie. Shot during the 2005 competition on the Centre Court, it spotlights Russia's Maria Sharapova and Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives. Graham English Productions employed five simultaneous-shot panoramic cameras and the finished film is a mind-boggling creation that can be frozen and rotated round the field of action with ease. Drawing on this cutting edge technique, the film takes the viewer through 20 varied aspects of the clash and illustrates how the players' bodies and equipment are impacted.
Similarly hi-tech, and as eye-catching as a Sharapova dash, is the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum McEnroe's Ghost display – one of only two such projected films in the country, wherein a 3-D image of John McEnroe transports into the past and takes a tour of the 80s Gentlemen's Dressing Room. His doppleganger goes into areas usually out of bounds to visitors and recalls Dressing Room shenanigans, such as his first encounter with Jimmy Connors, and how he would psychologically prepare for the game ahead. The only thing missing are Big Mac’s expletives – you cannot be serious! Worth the price of a ticket alone to see that frizz again.
A grand family day out is given greater lustre by the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum’s Whites Of Wimbledon exhibition of clothing worn by players from the 1880s onwards, including Rafael Nadal's dri-fit 'pirate' trousers. Additionally, a hands-on display allows ticket holders to feel the difference in weight between male and female clothing in 1884, and marvel that anyone could walk, let alone play in it!
The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum features New Technology as well, with Interactive touch-screens around the Museum’s halls. These feature a 'Get A Grip' rotating wheel of rackets; 'The Reactor' game; and a video vault of standout Championship games of yore.
Tickets for the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum can be pre-booked and take in the Picnic Terraces and Water Gardens, with views from ‘Henman Hill’/’Murray Mound’ over to the capital, The Millennium Building, and the Press Interview Room, which is cut off during The Championships, along with either Centre Court or the BBC Television Studio, depending on current requirements of the organisation.
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum ticket holders can use the Renshaw Café on the ground floor of No.1 Court, perhaps taking in strawberries and cream – a cornerstone of a family day out at Wimbledon. Besides all that, there’s the Kenneth Ritchie Library that contains one of the country’s premier collections of lawn tennis books, annuals, periodicals, programmes, newspaper clippings and videos. Ticket holders can book a study or research session, and its catalogue can be viewed at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum Shop. It’s based at the Museum entrance and has a welter of official merchandise, from clothing and accessories to DVDs, books, jewellery and souvenirs. With disabled-access facilities throughout, it really is a family attraction that everybody can enjoy.
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum additionally hosts educational Workshops and Children’s Guided Tours under its Museum Education Programme. This features numerous ‘pocket money’ gifts and a packed-lunch. Corporate entertainment at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum is also on offer, its gallery staging banquets, receptions, meetings and press conferences for up to 60. Parties of 150 can enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the Museum or on Henman Hill, while St. Mary’s Walk leads to the Millennium Building, where players meet the media.
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum has an eye on the 2012 Summer Olympics too, when Wimbledon acts as an official venue, as well as a family attraction offering novel and enthralling family day out. A ticket could even inspire the next Henman or Murray, who might become an exhibit in the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum themselves. Love all!