London 2012 Venue

 

Olympics coming home to Wimbledon - and this time rain shouldn't stop play

 

EVERYONE associates tennis with Wimbledon and so it is fitting the 2012 Games in London offer the prospect of the first Olympic tournament on grass since 1924.

 

The weather should not be a problem either - a planned retractable roof for the famous Centre Court should be in place well before then.

 

It will be the second occasion that Wimbledon will have held Olympic tennis. It was also staged there in 1908 - or at least part of it was. There were separate outdoor and indoor tournaments, with the latter being staged at Queen's Club.

 

Unlike modern Olympiads, which are held over a condensed period lasting a little over a fortnight, the 1908 Games were held over six months between April and October that year. The two tennis events (indoor and outdoor tennis) were split either side of Wimbledon.

 

The indoor tournament in 1908 only involved players from Britain and Sweden as representatives from New Zealand and Australia failed to turn up. Arthur Gore, who went on to win the Wimbledon title a few weeks later, took the gold medal with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win over fellow Briton, George Caridia. The women's final was also an all-British affair with Gladys Eastlake-Smith eventually overcoming Alice Greene 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 to claim gold.

 

That all proved to be an interesting entrée for the outdoor event after that year's Championships as the Games at the AELTC - at the old Worple Road ground - attracted entrants from a much wider area including countries which ordinarily would not then be associated with tennis.

 

In fact, there were more nations represented at the tennis Games of 1908 than there had been contesting The Championships the few weeks before. The men's event saw Germany's Otto Froitzheim snatch the spotlight as he stormed through the field to reach the final for the loss of just two sets. However, it was Britain's Josiah Ritchie who won the gold medal that year after defeating him in the final, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

 

The ladies' event was rather unsuccessful with withdrawals causing problems leaving the two British finalists arriving for the deciding match via very contrasting routes. Mrs. Dorothea Lambert Chambers won three matches for a chance at the Gold whereas Miss Dora Boothby arrived there without striking a ball courtesy of a bye and two scratchings.

 

Boothby's lack of match play may well have played some part in her defeat in a match that saw Lambert Chambers at her best. Her Gold came via a 6-1, 7-5 victory to complete a run of four matches without losing a set.

 

The Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon have developed from the garden party atmosphere of the first meeting in 1877, witnessed by a few hundred spectators, to a highly professional tournament attracting an attendance of over 500,000 people. Players from over 60 nations regularly compete in front of a crowd of millions worldwide, through the press, radio, internet and television.

 

But the venue's location in south-west London could be tricky for competitors and fans alike as the athletes' village and main Olympic zone will be located in the east of the city.