1924: No.1 Court opened

No sooner had Wimbledon’s grand new Centre Court opened than it became clear that even more expansion would be required, so plans were laid for another “show court” to be sited along the west side of the main stadium.

It was an architectural oddity with its large open soccer-style terrace on the western side, covered stands at each end and the eastern side largely taken up by a sheer concrete wall and a pair of giant pulleys, which seemed more in keeping with a naval dockyard than a sports stadium.

Originally intended as a hard court when the All England Club moved to Church Road in 1922, it eventually opened two years later as the second main grass court instead, with accommodation for 3,250 spectators. Over the years this was gradually expanded to 7,500.

No.1 Court’s 72-year history, during which it was a key part of 67 Wimbledons, ended in 1996 when it was replaced by a new No.1 Court, seating 11,500.

1925: Suzanne Lenglen

Suzanne Lenglen’s domination of the women’s singles reached its peak at the 1925 Championships when she captured her sixth singles title while dropping a mere five games in five matches.

Lenglen had a walkover against her scheduled first-round opponent, Aurea Edgington of Britain before demolishing, in succession, Elizabeth Ryan 6-2, 6-0, Elsie Goldsack 6-1, 6-0, Winifred Beamish 6-0, 6-0, Kitty McKane 6-0, 6-0 and then, in the final, Joan Fry 6-2, 6-0.

The 1926 Jubilee Championships the next year was, sadly, almost the last her many British devotees would see of her. Because of a scheduling mix-up and a failure properly to inform her of the change of time for her second-round singles, Lenglen (pictured above with Queen Mary) arrived late for the match. The fact Queen Mary was in attendance and had been kept waiting caused the Frenchwoman to be booed the next day when she played a mixed doubles. She promptly withdrew from Wimbledon and never played there again.

1926: The King plays at Wimbledon

The Jubilee Championships of 1926, at which King George V and Queen Mary presented commemorative medals to 34 of Wimbledon’s surviving champions, was a Royal occasion in another sense when the King and Queen’s son, the Duke of York (later to become monarch as King George VI), competed in the men’s doubles with his equerry, Wing Commander Louis Greig.

Their first-round match was a bizarre occasion, since the opposition was provided by a pairing whose combined age totalled 110 years. Arthur Gore was still playing top level tennis at 58, while his partner, H. Roper Barrett, later to become Britain’s Davis Cup captain, was 52.

Though the future king (below right, alongside Greig) was reputed to have a hard service and he and his partner had the advantage of youth over their opponents, experience told as the older pair won in straight sets.

Wing Commander Greig, later Sir Louis Greig, became chairman of the All England Club in 1937, while King George VI remains the only member of the Royal Family who has ever competed at Wimbledon.