1964: Dorothy Cavis-Brown

On the opening day of the 1964 Wimbledon Championships Abe Segal of South Africa was drawn to play the American Clark Graebner in the first round. The order of play for the first day allocated the match to Court 3.

On that same day the team of umpires and line judges held their annual start of Championships cocktail party. Play began at 2pm on a sunny afternoon and was then held up when one of the line judges, Dorothy Cavis Brown, was thought to be asleep. An attempt to wake her was made by one of the ball-boy team, Robbie Thornton, but he was unsuccessful.

So Segal broke off from concentrating on his match, walked over to the official and tapped her on the shoulder, which did the trick. The match resumed,Segal won it 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and as a consequence of events Mrs Cavis Brown was given a few days off from her duties.

Segal went on to reach the quarter-finals unseeded and he was beaten by the American Chuck McKinley 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

1964: Margaret Court v Maria Bueno

By 1964 one of the greatest rivalries of tennis between Margaret Smith of Australia and Maria Bueno of Brazil was at a peak. Bueno was the older of the pair, having been born Sao Paulo in October 1939. Smith was born at Albury, New South Wales, in July 1942. They were destined to have a rivalry, which gripped the tennis world, no more so than at Wimbledon.

Court — she married Barry Court in 1967 — and Bueno were playing each other for the 12th time in 1964, a clash between the balletic Bueno and the Australian athlete whose training schedules were renowned. Between 1961 and 1975 Court won everything that mattered.

But not the 1964 Wimbledon title. In the final set Court was ahead 3-2 with her serve to come. But second seeded Bueno was ready for the demands and ran off four games running to take the title for a third and final time by 6-4 7-9 6-3.

1968: The first Open Wimbledon

The excitement surrounding the first Open Wimbledon in 1968 was immense. For the first time some of the great players of the past were to tackle the challenge of Wimbledon once more. Back came Rod Laver after a five-year gap as a professional and with him from that same previously excluded grouping came Pancho Gonzales, who had not played at Wimbledon since 1949, Pancho Segura, Lew Hoad, Andres Gimeno, Butch Buchholz, and, of course, Ken Rosewall, who had been runner-up in the singles final in 1954 and 1956.

In an all-Australian final - not exactly a rarity at Wimbledon - Laver would face Tony Roche, with the winner to earn £2,000 in prize money. In a final between two left-handers, Laver (main picture) won 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 and Wimbledon's first open tournament was over.

The Ladies' Championship was a triumph for the American Billie Jean King who won for a third year running. King was seeded to play another former winner, Margaret Court of Australia, in the final but instead played another Australian Judy Tegart who beat Court in the quarter-finals. Elsewhere, John Newcombe and Tony Roche won the gentlemen's doubles, Rosemary Casals and Billie Jean King won the ladies' doubles and Ken Fletcher and Margaret Court won the mixed doubles.

1969: Pancho Gonzalez v Charlie Pasarell

For a match overflowing with class and intensity involving exceptional physical fitness and extensive concentration, the opening round clash between Pancho Gonzales and Charlie Pasarell is one of the best examples available.

Play was stopped at 8pm on Tuesday with Gonzales trailing two sets to love, the veteran American losing his cool at having been forced to play on in poor light but on the next day, in brilliant sunshine, he became a hero as he turned the match around to win 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9.

The 5hrs and 20mins of actual play over 112 games was quickly rated as the greatest ever first-round clash and immediately entered the record books as the longest match played at The Championships.

What should also be remembered is that Gonzales, at 41, overcame a 16-year age gap which makes his marathon victory even more incredible.