Wimbledon and the early championships.

A croquet club takes up lawn tennis

The All England Club began as a croquet club. Wimbledon's history page, seen only in a search summary, says it was founded for croquet in 1868. Wikipedia dates the founding meeting of the All England Croquet Club to 23 July 1868, held at the offices of The Field by six men.

When lawn tennis arrived at the club is given two ways. Wimbledon's history page and Wikipedia say a lawn was given over to lawn tennis in 1875, Wikipedia specifying February 1875. A local history page, seen in a summary, gives 1876.

Wikipedia says the club renamed itself the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in April 1877 and marked the change by staging the first Lawn Tennis Championship.

The first Championship, July 1877

Wikipedia dates the start of the 1877 Championship to 9 July 1877. It was a gentlemen's singles event, and Spencer Gore won it, beating William Marshall 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in the final on 19 July 1877. Wimbledon's history page, as summarised, says about 200 spectators watched the final.

Wikipedia, as summarised, says the rules the club drew up for 1877 included the method of scoring, and that parts of it remain in the modern rules. Today's rules are set by the ITF, and the scoring as its 2026 rule book states it is on tennis.

Points the sources disagree on

• The size of the field. Wikipedia says 22 men registered and 21 played. A History Channel account, seen in the same search, says 22 took part.
• Why the Championship was held. The often-told story is that the club needed money to repair a pony roller for the lawns. Britannica is summarised as calling this a story rather than a documented fact. Britannica's page returned an error when fetched, so its wording was not read and the story is unconfirmed either way.

The first women's event at Wimbledon followed in 1884; it is covered on women in tennis.

The United States, 1881

The first US national championship was held at the Newport Casino, Rhode Island, from 31 August to 3 September 1881, according to Wikipedia. Richard Sears won the men's singles and went on to win the first seven, from 1881 to 1887. A single secondary source, seen in a summary, says the championships moved from Newport to the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills, New York, in 1914; no other source confirmed it. The first US women's national championship is often given as 1887 in Philadelphia, but no source read for this site confirmed that. How the US association itself was founded that year is on lawn tennis and Wingfield.

The Davis Cup, 1900

The ITF's Davis Cup site says the competition began in 1900 as a contest between the USA and Great Britain at the Longwood Cricket Club. The idea came from four Harvard players, and Dwight Davis designed the format and bought the trophy himself. The event was first called the International Lawn Tennis Challenge and became known as the Davis Cup after his trophy. Tennis Majors, seen in a summary, says the first tie began on 8 August 1900 and the US won 3-0.

Where Longwood was is given two ways: Boston, on the Davis Cup site, or Brookline, Massachusetts, in a History Channel account seen in a summary.

The Davis Cup site's own milestones are:

An AP report from August 2018, seen only in a search summary, says the 2019 reform replaced home-and-away weekend ties with an 18-team event at a neutral site at the end of the season, played over the best of three sets, that it was developed with the Kosmos investment group, and that it drew criticism over the loss of home ties. The report was not opened, so these details are unconfirmed here.

The international federation, 1913

Sportcal reports that the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) was formed in 1913 and has been called the International Tennis Federation since 1977. Its founding is given two ways. Search summaries of the ITF's own history page, which returned no text when fetched, say it was founded on 1 March 1913 in Paris with 15 founding members. Wikipedia says 12 associations attended the first conference and three more asked to join.

Wikipedia, as summarised, says the US association stayed out of the ILTF when it was formed, and that from 1913 to 1923 the ILTF recognised three official championships: Wimbledon, the World Hard Court Championships in Paris and the US championship.

The federation has a newer name too. Sportcal reports that member associations voted in October 2025 to trade as World Tennis from 1 January 2026, while the 2026 rule book is still issued by ITF Limited under the name International Tennis Federation.

Melbourne and Paris

Wikipedia, seen in summaries, says the Australasian Championships began in Melbourne in 1905 with men's singles and doubles, and that the French Championships opened to international players in 1925. The 2026 editions of today's four majors, the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, are in tennis majors 2026.