Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/117483
PHILIPPE CHATRIER AWARD With its all-white clothing rule, strawberries and cream and green, green grass, Wimbledon commands global attention on the strength of its brand alone. ���For many people around the world, The Championships are still their first exposure to the sport, and the value of this, for the ITF and every other organisation in tennis, cannot be underestimated,��� commented ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti. That was the case for Goran Ivanisevic, the 2001 champion and four-time finalist. ���As a kid in Split Wimbledon had such an aura,��� Ivanisevic told ITFWorld. ���When I first came and played juniors I was so excited and even now when I go there, it is such a good feeling.��� But there are many ways in which the All England Club and The Championships have contributed to the game of tennis, beyond simply being iconic. ���As a Championship, Wimbledon is the first among equals, for several reasons,��� explains John Barrett, former player turned commentator and a vice president of the All England Club. ���Held in 1887, it was the first ��� the U.S. held their first Championship four years later in 1891; the Aussies were next in 1905 and the French last in 1925. ���Wimbledon is the only one of the four that has had continuity of site and surface, and Wimbledon has total independence from the LTA to run The Championships as it sees fit. This division of responsibility is crucially important. The focus is total, and the players feel they can always depend on Wimbledon to do what is right for them and for the game,��� Barrett continues. King agrees. ���They���re very precise, very specific. One thing they did used to do when I was playing was ask me questions. Take the time to show us what they were thinking. To see the before and after, the combination of tradition and innovation, was a tremendous experience for me.��� That respect for tradition, for the Club���s role in the origins of the sport, continues to define the running of The Championships. ���Everything about playing at Wimbledon is special... the history, the beautiful grounds, the traditions, the fans, Centre Court, the way the AELTC have been able to modernise the club but keep the history and the aura,��� former champion Lindsay Davenport told ITFWorld. But while Wimbledon carefully protects its roots in the past, it has never shied away from embracing progress. ���The most important thing Wimbledon has done for tennis was to force through open tennis by holding a professional event in 1967 on the Centre Court and to declare that with the LTA���s blessing it would hold an open Wimbledon in 1968,��� Barrett explains. Helping to propel tennis from being a hobby to a way of life, the AELTC was the first to open its courts to the professionals. ���Wimbledon sets the example,��� Philippe Chatrier himself wrote in Tennis de France in 1968. ���The Championships in June, with guaranteed participation of the top professional players, already stirs a passion which tennis will profit from throughout the world��� May they be assured of the gratitude felt by all those who love tennis.��� The hard-fought decision was a resounding success. ���That changed tennis for all time, it changed it for better, it gave any child in the whole world an opportunity to make a living in our sport if we���re good enough,��� explains King, who won the first professional Championships at Wimbledon. ���I really have always been very thankful to the AELTC for taking us from amateur to professional tennis. It gave us an opportunity to make a living, not have to leave our sport.��� 18 ITFWORLD SPRING 2013 Wimbledon has also pioneered technology in tennis. The almost 90-year partnership between the AELTC and the BBC, which began with the first-ever live broadcast of a sporting event in 1937, is the longest-running sports Nine-time Wimbledon champion rights agreement in world sport, and one Martina Navratilova holds that yields 140 hours of live coverage during the record for most singles titles at the Club the fortnight each year. ���Throughout its coverage of Wimbledon, The BBC has always innovated,��� explains Paul Davies, the BBC���s Executive Producer at Wimbledon. ���The Championships saw the first-ever colour transmission in 1967 and more recently SW19 has lead the way in HD and 3D transmissions. Wimbledon was the first to introduce the analytical side of HawkEye, too, which has revolutionised the ability to analyse and demystify the sport.��� Another example is the Centre Court roof, an astonishing feat of engineering that, even though it is only four years old, looks as if it were always meant to be there. ���The retractable roof to me is a piece of modern art,��� says King. ���I love the way it looks even when it���s open. I love the way they think of detail, I really appreciate that they want to do it right, I think that makes a big difference to the fans, the players, the media.��� And then there are Wimbledon���s partnerships, longstanding relationships with brands who have become seamlessly integrated into The Championships. ���It���s special because you don���t have that commercialism that the other majors have, it makes them different.��� King believes. ���The symmetry of Centre Court, it���s so beautifully green, it gives you goosebumps.��� But while the All England Club, unlike the three other Grand Slam organising bodies who are also charged with governing the sport in their respective countries, passes that responsibility to Britain���s Lawn Tennis Association, it has not lost sight of its duty to contribute to the global game beyond simply hosting an event. In 1985, Wimbledon became the first Grand Slam tournament to contribute to the Grand Slam Development Fund with a donation of ��100,000, to be repeated on an annual basis. ���It paved the way for the US Open and Roland Garros to follow in 1986, and the Australian Open to do so in 1989,��� explained Ricci Bitti. ���It���s possible that without the All England Club���s leadership, the GSDF, which began in 1986, would never have been established.��� The programme for Wimbledon���s ground-breaking professional tournament in 1967 Club history The All England Club was founded in 1869 as a croquet club with its grounds in Worple Road, Wimbledon. Lawn tennis was first played there in 1875, leading to the staging of the first tennis championships in 1877. The All England Lawn Tennis Club (or AELTC for short) moved to its current home in Church Road, Wimbledon, in the London postal district of SW19, in 1922.