Wimbledon is the most important sporting event of the British summer. Since the first tournament was played in 1877 in front of a few hundred spectators, the competition has become a global sporting event attended by over half a million people, and watched on television by millions.

The world's top tennis players agree that playing at Wimbledon is an experience like no other. John McEnroe, a three-time Wimbledon winner, describes Wimbledon as 'the hallowed ground of the sport'.

Although the Wimbledon tennis championship has been in existence for more than a century, the sport of tennis has a much longer history. Most experts agree that the modern game has its origins in a courtyard ball game played by French monks in the 11th century.

For this reason many of the words used in tennis are of French origin. The unusual terms used in scoring a tennis match are English versions of French words: deuce (pronounced 'juice') comes from the French word 'deux', meaning 'to two'. The word love, meaning zero, also has French origins.

Much has changed since the first Wimbledon Tournament in 1877 - the first champion, Spencer Gore, won a prize of £12; this year the prize money is £630,000. Indeed, success in tennis championships is a very lucrative business. 2004 Wimbledon champion, Roger Federer has won nearly $17,000,000 in prize money since turning pro in 1998. Even more impressive, Serena and Venus Williams have won a staggering $30,000,000 between them over the last ten years.

Although, Wimbledon has traditionally been dominated by Americans and Europeans, other countries are beginning to produce world-class players. Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian, who won gold medals at the Athens Olympics, both play at Wimbledon this year. They are currently seeded 146 and 52, respectively. All Chinese competitors will be under pressure to do well; their coach, Jiang Hongwei, has gone on record as saying, 'My first target is to lift my players into the top 30. Olympic gold is not enough.'

Vocabulary

tournament
a series of contests in which competitors eliminate each other in order to reach the final

spectators
the people who watch a game

hallowed ground
land which is of special spiritual or religious significance

century
one hundred years

courtyard
an unroofed, walled area inside a building

monks
Christian men who live apart from society, devoting their lives to God

scoring
a system of awarding points based on performance

deuce
40 points each (only in tennis)

love
zero (only in tennis)

prize money
the money the winner receives

lucrative business
a very profitable business

turning pro
becoming professional

world-class players
the highest level of sportsperson

seeded
ranked

gone on record
quoted in print