Preppy men and women wouldn’t be the same without French legend Rene Lacoste, the number one player in the world in 1926 and 1927. Nicknamed "Le Crocodile," Lacoste embroidered his tennis clothes with the now iconic logo. On and off the court, Roger Federer is a worthy heir to Lacoste, wearing his monogrammed blazers and cashmere cardigans, and rubbing tennis elbows with Vogue's Anna Wintour at New York’s Fashion Week.
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Suzanne Lenglen, the first French female tennis star to turn professional, won an astounding 31 Grand Slam titles between 1914 and 1926. Currently ranked number one in the world, Rafael Nadal has six Slam victories, but the defending champion was forced out of this year’s Wimbledon due to a knee injury.
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American tennis star Gardnar Mulloy during one of Wimbledon's famed rain delays in 1950. This year, for the first time in its history, Centre Court will be covered by a retractable roof, part of a £100,000 renovation.
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Before he became King George VI, the Duke of York (and father of Queen Elizabeth II) was a champion tennis player, seen here playing in a doubles match with partner Wing Commander Louis Greig.
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In 1938, Queen Elizabeth (wife of George VI and mother of Queen Elizabeth II) stepped out with her parasol to watch American Helen Wills Moody win the title.
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Queen Elizabeth II presents Rod Laver with the championship trophy in 1962. Laver, who won four Wimbledon titles, is the only man to win all four majors in the same year, twice.
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Prince Philip taking his nine-year-old daughter, Princess Anne, to Wimbledon in 1960. It was Anne's first helicopter ride—a mere six minutes from Buckingham Palace. In 1991, Princess Diana accompanied her nine-year-old son, William, to Centre Court.
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Althea Gibson became the first African American to win a Grand Slam title in 1956, and went on to win Wimbledon in 1957 and 1958. In 2008, Venus and Serena Williams played one another in the Finals (where Venus won). Between them, the Williams sisters have 17 Grand Slam singles titles.
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While other tournaments have anything goes dress codes, Wimbledon has famously maintained its tennis whites-only policy. Dashing star Bill Tilden won three Wimbledon titles and set style standards in the 1920s and '30s. While the aptly named American Anne White shocked the strawberries-and-cream set in 1985 with her white Lycra jumpsuit.
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Streaking on Centre Court has been a Wimbledon tradition for many years, and knows no gender barrier.
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In 1974, Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert captured the men's and women's titles at Wimbledon—and each other's hearts. While Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi have eight Wimbledon singles championships between them (seven of them Graf's).
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As a 20-year-old amateur in 1939, Bobby Riggs won the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles championships at Wimbledon. Billie Jean King, in 1966, winning the first of her six singles titles. Riggs and King would go on to play one another in 1973, in what was billed as The Battle of the Sexes, at the Houston Astrodome. King won the match, earning greater respect for women's tennis and the women's liberation movement itself.
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Twenty-four-year-old Arthur Ashe at the 1968 tournament, the first year professionals were allowed to play. Seven years later, Ashe defeated Jimmy Connors to win Wimbledon.
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Romanian player Ilie "Nasty" Nastase always looked more movie star than tennis champion, solidified by his number six ranking on Maxim’s “Living Sex Legends” list (in addition to his seven Grand Slam titles). And although he is always only an onlooker with the other celebrities drawn to Wimbledon’s stands, actor Jude Law, pictured here with ex-girlfriend Sienna Miller, is a near doppelganger for tennis’ famed bad boy.
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Martina Navratilova won a record nine singles titles at Wimbledon over the course of her legendary career and is tied with Billie Jean King for the most total Wimbledon titles (20). Navratilova's namesake, Swiss star Martina Hingis, won one Wimbledon singles championship (and four other Grand Slam singles titles) before retiring at 27.
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During his 15-year career, Pete Sampras won a record 14 major titles, seven of them at Wimbledon. Roger Federer has since tied that record and is hoping to eclipse Sampras this year.
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Many wondered whether Maria Sharapova would be the next Anna Kournikova—a great beauty who couldn't win a major tournament—when she came on to the women's tour in 2001. Three years later, Sharapova won Wimbledon, and would go on to capture the US Open and the Australian Open.
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Though Wimbledon is played at the All England Club, the Brits haven't had a champion in many decades. Fred Perry was the last British man to win Wimbledon (in 1936), while Virginia Wade (rear, shown with Evonne Goolagong and Billie Jean King) was the last British woman to win, in 1977.
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In 1980 Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe played a legendary five-set final (won by Borg, 8-6 in the fifth), widely considered the best final in history. That is, until the 2008 championship, in which Roger Federer and Rafael Nada slugged it out during a five-set, nearly five-hour match (with lots of rain delays). McEnroe, who was announcing that final, called it “the greatest match I’ve ever seen.”
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