The Championships, Wimbledon, "The Wimbledon Championships" or simply Wimbledon (also informally known as "The British Open"), is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and widely considered to be the biggest and the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three majors being the Australian Open, French Open and US Open. Wimbledon is the only Major still played on grass, the game's original surface, which gave the game its original name of "lawn tennis".
The tournament takes place over two weeks in late June and early July, culminating with the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Singles Final, scheduled for the second Saturday and Sunday respectively. Each year five major events are contested, as well as four junior events and three invitational events.
The hard court (Plexicushion) Australian Open and clay court French Open precede Wimbledon in the year, and the hard court (DecoTurf) US Open follows. For men, the grass court Queen's Club Championships, also in London, and the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, serve as warm-up events; for women, the AEGON Classic in Birmingham and two joint events, the UNICEF Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands and the Eastbourne International.
Wimbledon traditions include a strict dress code for competitors, the eating of strawberries and cream by the spectators, and Royal patronage. The tournament is also notable for the absence of sponsor advertising around the courts. In 2009, Wimbledon's Centre Court was fitted with a retractable roof to lessen the loss of playing time due to rain.
Wimbledon consists of five main events, four junior events and four invitation events.
Main events
The five main events, and the number of players (or teams, in the case of doubles) are:
Gentlemen's Singles (128)
Ladies' Singles (128)
Gentlemen's Doubles (64)
Ladies' Doubles (64)
Mixed Doubles (64)
Junior events
The four junior events and the number of players or teams are:
Boys' Singles (64)
Girls' Singles (64)
Boys' Doubles (32)
Girls' Doubles (32)
Disabled Doubles (12)
No mixed doubles event is held at this level.
Invitation events
The five invitational events and the number of pairs are:
Gentlemen's Invitation Doubles (8 pairs Round Robin)
Senior Gentlemen's Invitation Doubles (8 pairs Round Robin)
Ladies' Invitation Doubles (8 pairs Round Robin)
Gentlemen's Wheelchair Doubles (4 pairs)
Ladies' Wheelchair Doubles (4 pairs)
Match formats
Matches in the Gentlemen's Singles and Gentlemen's Doubles are best-of-five sets, in all other events are best-of-three sets. A tiebreak game is played if the score reaches 6–6 in any set except the fifth (in a five-set match) or the third (in a three-set match), in which case a two-game lead must be reached.
All events are single-elimination tournaments, except for the Gentlemen's, Senior Gentlemen's and the Ladies' Invitation Doubles, which are round-robin tournaments.
Until 1922, the winners of the previous year's competition (except in the Ladies' Doubles and Mixed Doubles) were automatically granted byes into the final round (then known as the challenge round). This led to many winners retaining their titles in successive years, as they were able to rest while their opponent competed from the start of the competition. From 1922, the prior year's champions were required to play all the rounds, like other tournament competitors.
Source from: wikipedia