0:00:47 > 0:00:49What is Wimbledon?
0:00:49 > 0:00:53For 125 years, players and fans have made the pilgrimage to SW19,
0:00:53 > 0:00:58a quiet suburb of London, to try to find the answer.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02You behave almost in a different way when you come here
0:01:02 > 0:01:06because you are aware of what it means to the sport
0:01:06 > 0:01:09and the richness of the tradition of the place.
0:01:10 > 0:01:16At its core lies a simple rectangle, 78ft by 36ft,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20surrounded by 18 other identical rectangles.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26Add some texture, grass -
0:01:26 > 0:01:29out of date in tennis terms but vivid and tactile.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Who wants to touch clay or hard court?
0:01:32 > 0:01:36Simply the most famous lawn in the world.
0:01:36 > 0:01:41As far as Wimbledon is concerned, it's all about the players.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44What we do is provide the right stage,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47the right environment for them to perform on.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Now start painting the broad strokes.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55Tradition, pomp, ceremony - quintessentially British.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00Wimbledon is this extraordinary mix of British tradition
0:02:00 > 0:02:04and then the sport at its most modern best.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09Fill in the background. Fans - polite but supportive.
0:02:09 > 0:02:10Jingoistic? Maybe.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14But with no British men's singles winner since 1936,
0:02:14 > 0:02:15give them a break.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Finally, the masterstrokes - the players.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Artists and artisans, punchers and counter-punchers.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28All of them seduced sooner or later by its unique aura.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31It's a feeling.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33Some people have it before they even get there
0:02:33 > 0:02:38but those that didn't have it, they certainly get it later.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40It touches everyone.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45But what is in Wimbledon's aesthetic - its DNA -
0:02:45 > 0:02:51that makes this place one of the most enduring and endearing sports arenas in the world?
0:02:51 > 0:02:55In celebrating Wimbledon's 125th anniversary,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58we discover the reasons.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03We begin with the years 1877 to 1939.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12A typical scene for many a young player
0:03:12 > 0:03:16dreaming of one day becoming Wimbledon champion.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21But these four young girls are in fact following in fabled footsteps.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30It was here at Walpole Road, now the playing fields of the Wimbledon High School For Girls,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34that the championships were first played in 1877.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42The game would be recognisable to the first competitors but only just.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46No one could have anticipated how Wimbledon and its Championships
0:03:46 > 0:03:49would come to dominate the landscape of a game first regarded
0:03:49 > 0:03:55as no more than a gentle pastime for the lawns of the country gentry.
0:03:58 > 0:04:0122 players entered the first men-only championships,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04with Spencer Gore, an old boy of Harrow School,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06claiming the first prize of 12 Guineas
0:04:06 > 0:04:09and a silver Challenge Trophy.
0:04:09 > 0:04:10Play.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16The championships probably came and went with very little fuss.
0:04:16 > 0:04:23You have to remember that tennis did not have any working-class roots.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26I think they called it patter.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31This sort of faux sport was not for them.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36You have to give credit to the members
0:04:36 > 0:04:38who actually stuck their necks out
0:04:38 > 0:04:46and decided to go ahead with this completely novel championship.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49It could have remained a marginalised,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52niche sport that fizzled out, like croquet.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Over the next few years, popularity of the game
0:04:56 > 0:04:59and of Wimbledon grew and broadened,
0:04:59 > 0:05:05fuelled by a women's singles title, first won by Maud Watson in 1884.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10The club came to claim a central position in the world tennis calendar.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Adopting, if only for a few years,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17the title of the World Championships On Grass.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22It was a day out and people took it quite seriously.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25At this early period it wasn't that the stage
0:05:25 > 0:05:28of getting on to the London social calendar
0:05:28 > 0:05:34like Henley or Ascot or Lord's but there was a presence about it.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38You were beginning to get the cultural aspect
0:05:38 > 0:05:41of being seen at these events.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48Times have indeed changed through the years but not so much.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51A day out at Wimbledon has become a social and sporting necessity.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53A must-do for all walks of life.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Everyone, it seems, wants to be part of the summer garden party
0:06:00 > 0:06:03which, with its champagne and strawberries,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05is so intrinsically linked to a British summer.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14A tennis tournament, yes, but also a place to be seen and admired.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27Royal patronage, which continues through to this day,
0:06:27 > 0:06:29only underlines its standing.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38You have a sense that it's a very privileged lifestyle
0:06:38 > 0:06:44that you are stepping into and that it's an extraordinarily elegant experience.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46But at the same time it's very inclusive.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49You can walk around the grounds and you'll see people
0:06:49 > 0:06:52from all walks of life and from all over the world
0:06:52 > 0:06:53coming to enjoy the sport.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57So I don't think it's elitist in that respect.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00But you do still have a sense of grandeur
0:07:00 > 0:07:02and that it's a special place to be.
0:07:05 > 0:07:11As Wimbledon became more and more popular at the turn of the 20th century, so did its champions.
0:07:11 > 0:07:17But all were happy to conform to the dress, decorum and attitudes expected of Victorian England.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21Then someone tore up the rule book.
0:07:24 > 0:07:31I think every now and again along comes somebody special in sport
0:07:31 > 0:07:34who transforms it
0:07:34 > 0:07:35and widens its appeal.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Certainly Suzanne Lenglen was such a person.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Before the modern tennis superstar,
0:07:43 > 0:07:47before Chrissie, Steffi or Serena, came Suzanne Lenglen.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50Flamboyant, flighty and feisty.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54Such was her reputation that spectators trampled over the hedges
0:07:54 > 0:07:59to watch her debut in 1919 on court four at the old Walpole Road.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06The fact that Suzanne was really the first great, electric woman player
0:08:06 > 0:08:10meant so much to Wimbledon.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12To come out and see this extraordinary
0:08:12 > 0:08:13female athlete.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18She was a wonderful personality.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Not a very pretty girl but a very vivacious one,
0:08:22 > 0:08:27and her personality won over people. With this beautiful, balletic grace,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30moving so wonderfully on the court.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34And her accuracy and control of the ball was second to none.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Lenglen may have won six singles titles
0:08:38 > 0:08:41but it was a French sense of style
0:08:41 > 0:08:45and her diva's temperament that she was best known for.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50While outside the courts the suffragettes were fighting for women's rights,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54inside Wimbledon the fortunes of the fairer sex were far more advanced.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Lenglen led the way, with dresses a trifle shorter,
0:08:57 > 0:09:03a little flimsier and a lot more risque than everyone else's.
0:09:03 > 0:09:09Her dresses were copied as women's fashion and sold in the shops.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11French women would buy them
0:09:11 > 0:09:14and thought how wonderful they looked in Suzanne dresses.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18She was a character like we've never had, certainly.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22I'm not so sure there's ever been a woman athlete like her.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26She would entertain the press after a match in her bath tub.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30I assume there were soap bubbles but maybe not.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33She was a very fluid tennis player.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36You see the pictures of her jumping and so forth.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41It was not uncommon for one breast or the other to fall out of her outfit.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46On the French Riviera they even named her breasts Mary and Jane.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50Wise guys would say, "Who do you think we are going to see today, Mary or Jane?"
0:09:50 > 0:09:52It did not bother Suzanne one bit.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55She'd tuck it back in and go right on playing.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Lenglen may have laid the foundations of fashion at Wimbledon
0:10:03 > 0:10:05but it was designer Teddy Tinling
0:10:05 > 0:10:08who raised the hemline to another level.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15His outfits for Gussie Moran - not Wimbledon's greatest player -
0:10:15 > 0:10:20still managed to raise eyebrows around the world in the 1940s.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27His creations continued to inspire on court fashion trends
0:10:27 > 0:10:29for the next 30 years.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35Wimbledon became a fashion parade almost as much as much as a tennis tournament,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37as players and clothing companies
0:10:37 > 0:10:43began to capitalise on the best catwalk in the sporting calendar.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46It is a very personality-driven game.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48It's a very individual sport.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52I think their personalities show through with what they're wearing.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55I think that the world of Nike and Adidas
0:10:55 > 0:10:59and Lacoste and everybody else has realised that,
0:10:59 > 0:11:01and more and more with new fabrics and new designs,
0:11:01 > 0:11:06they're realising this can be just so important for their brands
0:11:06 > 0:11:10through the young men and women that are wearing them on court.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17We think always about the backdrop. That's the colour of the court
0:11:17 > 0:11:20or of the baseline walls behind them,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23whatever the advertising or lack of advertising might be.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26At Wimbledon it's so pure and clean.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29So it forces you to be more clever
0:11:29 > 0:11:33with cut lines and with the neckline or something that might look more dramatic
0:11:33 > 0:11:37just in white as opposed to relying on a bright colour
0:11:37 > 0:11:41fighting against a court backdrop.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50Fashion statements had become stronger and more daring.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53Sometimes too strong, too daring.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56But the All England Club's predominantly white clothing rule
0:11:56 > 0:12:00is just one way that Wimbledon asserts its uniqueness
0:12:00 > 0:12:03over every other tournament in the world.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10It feels like its own environment. The rules are set in stone.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14There's no getting around them and there's no bending them.
0:12:14 > 0:12:15It runs a certain way.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20You feel like you're part of something that's much bigger
0:12:20 > 0:12:24than not only you but in many ways it feels bigger than the sport.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30There is a very hefty apparel manufacturing guidebook
0:12:30 > 0:12:33showing what is and is not acceptable.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36There are certain specific asks
0:12:36 > 0:12:39and one of them is that the back of the garment should be all white.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44So we definitely pay attention to that and design into those rules.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47But you never quite know until you get to that point
0:12:47 > 0:12:49whether or not the apparel will pass.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Instead of restricting choice,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56the all-white rule has created an aesthetic, a simplicity
0:12:56 > 0:13:02that only adds to the glamour and sex appeal at the heart of the game.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07I think when you're watching tennis at its highest level, it's like watching ballet.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11They are so elegant and athletic at the same time,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15that it's a celebration of men and women's bodies.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18I think that's become much more prevalent,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20say, in the last five or ten years,
0:13:20 > 0:13:24when there's just so much more exposure for the game.
0:13:24 > 0:13:30Obviously since it's a game that's really driven by young, very attractive people,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33fashion goes hand in hand with that particular group.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51Fittingly, Suzanne Lenglen hit the very last ball
0:13:51 > 0:13:54on the old Centre Court at Worple Road.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56The crowds that tennis' first celebrity attracted,
0:13:56 > 0:14:02meant Wimbledon had to find a new, bigger home in 1922.
0:14:02 > 0:14:08The chosen sight, just four miles up the road at Church Road, SW19.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13When Lenglen flounced off court in 1926,
0:14:13 > 0:14:19after an argument about her punctuality, she was unbeaten.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22She turned professional, a hint of troubles to come,
0:14:22 > 0:14:24and never returned.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28But, by then, Wimbledon, with its new Centre Court modelled on the old,
0:14:28 > 0:14:32and its broad acres, could live without Lenglen.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35The championships and the game had developed a life of its own,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39finding new ways to thrill each year.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44For me, Wimbledon has always been a very special place,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47ever since I came here as a junior.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51I remember walking through the main gate and up the main concourse
0:14:51 > 0:14:55and thinking, wow, I'm going to be playing on the courts at Wimbledon.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Woh, what a thrill.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02In the '20s and '30s, overseas players
0:15:02 > 0:15:04began to dominate the tournament.
0:15:04 > 0:15:09Strapping Americans like Bill Tilden, with his booming serve and blistering ground strokes.
0:15:09 > 0:15:15The French Musketeers, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet, and Rene Lacoste.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20The red-headed Californian, Don Budge,
0:15:20 > 0:15:22who perfected the attacking backhand stroke
0:15:22 > 0:15:27and won the first ever Grand Slam of major titles in one year.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33- What do you think of our English summer? - Well, I think you had that last week!
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Ever-growing crowds flocked to see the insatiable American,
0:15:36 > 0:15:41Helen Wills Moody, winner of eight Wimbledon singles titles,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45a feat that would not be beaten for over 50 years.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52But the best remembered among the home crowd, Fred Perry.
0:15:52 > 0:15:58The last British men's singles winner, who claimed three straight championships in the '30s.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03I am very pleased to think that I have at last fulfilled
0:16:03 > 0:16:06the trust placed in me by the Lawn Tennis Association.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09and carried off the title at Wimbledon.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12In so doing, I have achieved my own life's ambition.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18By the start of the Second World War, the pattern was set.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23Champions no longer made Wimbledon, Wimbledon made champions.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28The bond has only strengthened over the decades.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34You try to transport yourself in time to the '20s,
0:16:34 > 0:16:38to the '30s, to the '40s, imagine all those great players playing there,
0:16:38 > 0:16:39and you just feel it.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43So you feel very much alone, but at the same time,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47surrounded by history and surrounded by all those people
0:16:47 > 0:16:50that had played there, whether they're alive or not.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54But, for every winner, there has to be a loser.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57The list of great players to have never won Wimbledon
0:16:57 > 0:16:59is a very long one.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03To many, an eternal blot on their careers.
0:17:08 > 0:17:14Someone could win five French Opens, ten Australian Opens, six US Opens,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17but if they didn't have one Wimbledon, they wouldn't quite feel
0:17:17 > 0:17:19as though they were fulfilled.
0:17:21 > 0:17:22Game, set and match, Cash!
0:17:22 > 0:17:24CHEERING
0:17:24 > 0:17:28You win that one and, baby, that's all you need.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32I can still see Cash, the first one, going up,
0:17:32 > 0:17:35left the court and went into the stands.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38He started that whole tradition. If he had done that,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41if he had won the US Open and done that,
0:17:41 > 0:17:45I don't think it would have been embedded in my memory like that.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49And likewise, if you don't do well at Wimbledon, you go to your grave.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53Someone saying, yes, he was a great player, but.
0:17:54 > 0:17:55But he didn't win Wimbledon.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03'All I wanted to do was win that Wimbledon title.'
0:18:03 > 0:18:05That's all I ever concentrated on.
0:18:05 > 0:18:06I didn't care about the money,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09I didn't care that the girls, well, I cared about the girls!
0:18:09 > 0:18:12I didn't care about fame. All I wanted to do was win Wimbledon.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21While champions come and go, Wimbledon has to balance past, present and future.
0:18:25 > 0:18:31I think we're very conscious that the whole image of Wimbledon is based on tradition
0:18:31 > 0:18:33going back to 1877,
0:18:33 > 0:18:38keeping those things that are of vital to us,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40grass-court tennis, white clothing,
0:18:40 > 0:18:44limited amounts of advertising around the grounds.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49But in the same breath, we are in a competitive sports event business
0:18:49 > 0:18:53and we need to innovate as well and to change as the years go by.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00From the construction of Church Road on,
0:19:00 > 0:19:03the club has tried to improve and expand.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07Sometimes the changes are too discreet to even notice.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10But there is no hiding the march of time.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16In 1997, the old Number One court was demolished and replaced
0:19:16 > 0:19:19by a new, state-of-the-art, 11,000-seater stadium.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26The client doesn't so much define the restrictions,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29its other things that come into play.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33And at Wimbledon, it's the site, it's the history of the grounds.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37When you go into to a club like that, you've got be very careful
0:19:37 > 0:19:42about what you do so that it doesn't detract from it.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47If anything, hopefully every time we touch a piece of it, it is just that little bit better each time.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52It was the notorious British weather,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55one of Wimbledon's more enduring if unwanted images,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58which led to the biggest architectural change
0:19:58 > 0:20:00in recent years.
0:20:02 > 0:20:08When the All England Club decided to build a retractable canopy on Centre Court in 2006,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11many thought it would have been far cheaper to build
0:20:11 > 0:20:14an entirely new structure than to install a roof
0:20:14 > 0:20:16on a stadium built in 1922.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20But remember, this IS Wimbledon.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27What they did with Centre Court
0:20:27 > 0:20:30is quintessentially English.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34What they could have done was build a 50,000-seat, purpose-built arena
0:20:34 > 0:20:37with lots of corporate hospitality facilities
0:20:37 > 0:20:41and the latest state-of-the-art technology, but they didn't.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44What they did is they simply took what they already had
0:20:44 > 0:20:46and they accentuated it.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53I think the public response to the roof
0:20:53 > 0:20:55has been nothing other than positive.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58We've had a lovely situation where the sun's shone ever since we built it,
0:20:58 > 0:21:00and long may it stay that way.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03But the reaction to taking an existing building,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06remodelling it, bringing it up to date,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10putting a roof on it, I think has been a better option for us
0:21:10 > 0:21:13than having to relocate.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25Entering the grandest of stages in the game on Finals Day
0:21:25 > 0:21:28remains one of life's seminal moments.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33OK, boys, let go.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Good luck to you both.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40The walk onto the hallowed turf of Centre Court.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43The glance at that famous quote.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45The sense of anticipation.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48The players feel it,
0:21:48 > 0:21:50the fans do, it's palpable.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54There's that lovely moment when you can't see them
0:21:54 > 0:21:58but you know they're coming because some people can see them.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00That applause gets louder and louder and louder,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03and suddenly they actually come into your view.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09The hairs still stand up on the back of your hands.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13The day that doesn't happen is that they should go off and be a grave digger.
0:22:13 > 0:22:19No other 21st century sports arena has the same intimacy
0:22:19 > 0:22:22or dignity as Centre Court.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24No scoreboard telling fans to clap.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28No public announcer, no rock music.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31No cheerleaders. No mascots.
0:22:31 > 0:22:32No need.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38It's a great feeling to be there
0:22:38 > 0:22:42and to see the court that as a kid you grew up watching.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44I just love the whole atmosphere
0:22:44 > 0:22:49of the echo of the ball and just the quietness that they have before the point.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53It is the most unique place I've ever played.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Ready. Play.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02No vista on Centre Court appears by chance.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04Everything is designed a certain way.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09Even when you're sitting at the back of the stadium,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13the roof slopes down so much that you can't see the rest of the stadium.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16All you can see is this very tight green slot
0:23:16 > 0:23:20where the players are playing on that pristine piece of grass.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23So the building focuses the attention to that one intense moment,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26one man playing against another, one woman against the other.
0:23:26 > 0:23:33And I think the building helps that experience, it helps that intensity.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37It's tradition, it means something around the world,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39it's the well-cut English lawns.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41The sense of fair play,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43not shouting, not swearing,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46making sure that you're respectful to your opponents.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50This is all part of the package, it's all part of the deal.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53And I think in many ways it harks back to an England,
0:23:53 > 0:23:57certainly of the 19th century, possibly the 20th century,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00but it's an England and a world where these kind
0:24:00 > 0:24:02of values and these qualities are no longer present.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Even though the court has changed in its construction,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10the way it looks over the years,
0:24:10 > 0:24:14there is still that sense of this is the epicentre of tennis.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22A champion's back garden and a challenger's distant land,
0:24:22 > 0:24:25never rough or raucous, insistent yet sympathetic,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28claustrophobic and very public.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31There is nowhere to run, no place to hide on Centre Court.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Just a place to try and claim as their own for a while.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Knowing that no matter who they are,
0:24:39 > 0:24:40they're all just passing through.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50The years 1877-1939 laid the foundations of Wimbledon
0:24:50 > 0:24:51and tennis in general.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55The period after the Second World War
0:24:55 > 0:24:57turned the sport into a business.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Professionalism arrived and it was the All England Club
0:25:01 > 0:25:02who was first to act.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09Why just tennis players can't be paid? It didn't make any sense.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13And that ultimately was the stroke, the lightning that changed
0:25:13 > 0:25:16the whole game, because all of a sudden, and it was Wimbledon,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19looked and said this is insane.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd