The summer that never was – Wimbledon’s history in rare pictures

But with the social season called off and the summer weather having come and gone, we must resort to memories from the archive to remind us of strawberries and cream teas that never were.

Wimbledon has been a fixture on both the social and sporting calendars since 1877, when the first men’s championship was held before a crowd of 200 on one of the lawns of the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club on Worple Road, Wimbledon – and these pictures trace the story almost back to the beginning.

It was initially a British affair, and it wasn’t until 1095 that the American May Sutton becomes the first overseas champion, by winning the ladies’ singles. Two years later Norman Brookes of Australia became the first international men’s champion.

The championships got into their stride in the interwar years, with the move to their present home on Church Road, the first TV coverage and a hat-trick of wins, in successive years, by Fred Perry – ending nearly a quarter-century of foreign domination.

The roof of the centre court was damaged by a Luftwaffe bomb in 1940 and had not been fully repaired when the championships resumed. But it was a golden era, with Angela Mortimer defeating Christine Truman in 1961, in the first all-British singles final since 1914.

It was also an age of evolution. In 1968 professionals played against amateurs for the first time and the stage was set for the tennis stars who became household names. But there have been only three British singles champions in the Open era: Ann Haydon-Jones in 1969, Virginia Wade in 1977, and Andy Murray in 2013 and 2016.

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