The Wimbledon Venue

Address: The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Church Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 5AE.

Telephone: 020 8971 2473 (UK) regarding ticket enquiries

Telephone: +44 20 8971 2528 (Overseas)

Fax: +44 (0)20 8971 2528

Website: www.wimbledon.com

Wimbledon 2012 will be the 126th time that The All England Lawn Tennis Club will have hosted The Championships since the first tournament in 1877. Famed for its green grass, white clothing and the Club colours of purple and green, Wimbledon's sporting heritage combines the best of the old with a modern outlook to meet the demands of the modern game. To ensure that Wimbledon keeps it's position as the premier tennis tournament in the world, The All England Lawn Tennis Club put together a Long Term Plan in 1993, which has already greatly improved the quality of the event for everyone involved and will continue to do so.

In 1997 Stage One of the Plan was completed for the Championships and involved building in Aorangi Park the new No. 1 Court, a Broadcast Centre, two extra grass courts and a tunnel under the hill linking Church Road and Somerset Road. Stage Two involved the removal of the old No.1 Court complex to make way for the new Millennium Building, providing extensive facilities for the players, press, officials and Members, and the extension of the West Stand of the Centre Court with 728 extra seats. Stage Three concludes this year. The construction of a new Championships entrance building, housing Club staff, museum, bank and ticket office at Gate 3 left the Centre Court east side empty and allowed development to provide better facitilies for the public. The seating capacity was increased from 13,800 to 15,000 and a ground-breaking retractable roof was erected over Centre Court. Due to the inclement British Weather and the high probability of rain during Wimbledon, the retractable roof was installed over Centre Court prior to the 2009 Championship. The retractable roof is designed to close/open in about 10 minutes and will be closed primarily to protect play from bad weather during The Championships. Court 2 was opened in 2009, and 2011 sees the completion of Court 3 and Court 4.

The nineteen immaculate grass courts prepared for Wimbledon are composed purely of ryegrass, with the two main show courts, Centre Court and No. 1 Court, normally only used for two weeks a year, during the Championships. The remaining seventeen courts are regularly used for other events hosted by the All England Lawn Tennis Club. The show courts will, however, be used again for the second time in three months in 2012 as Wimbledon will host the tennis events of the 2012 Olympic Games and one of the show courts is also sometimes used for home ties of the GB team in the Davis Cup.

At the northern side of the Wimbledon grounds is a giant television screen on which important matches are broadcast. This is where the media-fuelled British public who are unlucky enough not to get tickets for the show courts go to watch the big games on an area of grass officially known as the Aorangi Terrace. This is little known though as it is often re-named by the press, Greg Rusedski's fans called it "Rusedski Ridge", Tim Henman had "Henman Hill" while now we have "Murray Mound" or "Murrayfield" for Any Murray.

Due to it's location, you're strongly advised to use public transport services wherever possible when travelling to the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

By Tube

You can take the westbound District Line and the closest tube stations are Southfields (15 minutes walk) and Wimbledon (20 minutes walk). At these tube stations you can catch the connecting London General shuttle bus service direct to the grounds or, alternatively, you can walk or take a taxi.

By Train

There's a regular train service from London Waterloo to Wimbledon Station. In addition many other long distance trains call at Wimbledon from stations such as Portsmouth, Havant, Winchester, Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole, Basingstoke, Andover, Salisbury and Exeter. At Wimbledon Station you can catch the connecting London General shuttle bus service direct to the grounds. Buses depart about every five minutes.

By Tram

Trams run every 10-15 minutes from East Croydon station to Wimbledon station during the day on Monday to Saturday, and once every 30 minutes on Sundays and early mornings/evenings. This service takes around 26 minutes.

By Bus

There's a shuttle bus service direct to the grounds from Wimbledon Station and Southfields Underground station. The service runs all day until late evening. There's also a bus service direct from Marble Arch and Victoria to the grounds, departing every 30 minutes.

Park and Ride

A Park and Ride scheme is available (6.30am - 11.00pm) at Morden Park, accessed from the A3 at Tolworth and via the A240 and A24. The charge, is £15.00 per car and £20.00 for minibuses. The last public bus from the Club to the Park & Ride, leaves from the terminal off Somerset Road at 10.00pm (unless there is late play on Centre Court, when this will be 10.40pm).

By Car

The All England Lawn Tennis Club lies between SW19 5AG and SW19 5AF - you can use either of these postcodes to locate the All England Lawn Tennis Club via Sat-Nav and then follow the signposted routes appropriate to your car park. You can call AA Roadwatch on 0906 88 84322 for the latest reports on traffic hold-ups and roadworks. Car Parking is available in the area and car parks are numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10 in the central area. Assured parking can be booked through The AA booking line on 01256 492110. This facility will close on Friday 17th June and after this time only a pay on the day option will be available