User:Don Lope/Sandbox Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon is an annual tennis tournament created in 1877 and played on outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) in the Wimbledon suburb of London, United Kingdom. The Gentlemen's Singles was the first event contested in 1877. Wimbledon is played in the last week of June and the first week of July, and has been chronologically the third of the four Grand Slam tournaments of the tennis season since 1987. The event was not held from 1915 to 1918 because of World War I and again from 1940 to 1945 because of World War II.

The Gentlemen's Singles' rules have undergone several changes since the first edition. From 1878 until 1921, the event started with a knockout phase, the All Comers' Singles, whose winner then faced the defending champion in a challenge round. The All Comers' winner was automatically awarded the title six times (1879, 1887, 1891, 1895, 1907, 1908) in the absence of the previous year's champion. The challenge round system was abolished with the 1922 edition. Since the first championships, all matches have been played at the best-of-five sets. Between 1877 and 1883, the winner of the next game at five games – all took the set in every match except the All Comers' final, and the challenge round, which were won with six games and a two games advantage. All sets were decided in this advantage format from 1884 to 1970. The lingering death best-of-12 points tie-break was introduced in 1971 for the first four sets, played at eight games – all until 1978 and at six games – all since 1979.

Since 1949, the Gentlemen's Singles champion has received a miniature replica of the event's trophy, a silver-gilt cup created in 1887 with the engraved inscription: "The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Champion of the World". New singles champions are traditionally elected honorary members of the AELTC by the club's committee. In 2009, the Gentlemen's Singles winner received prize money of £850,000.

William Renshaw (winner, 1881–1886, 1889) and Pete Sampras (winner, 1993–1995, 1997–2000) hold the all-time record for most titles in the Gentlemen's Singles, with seven victories each. Six of Renshaw's wins, however, came within the challenge round format, and he won the event only twice after going through a complete draw. Renshaw also holds the all-time record for most consecutive titles with six from 1881 to 1886. Without the challenge round, the record stands at five, and is co-held by Björn Borg (1976–1980) and Roger Federer (2003–2007).

Champions