As the Wimbledon tournament became widely accepted as the national tennis championship for Britain, international interest in the tournament emerged.
Beginning in 1905, competitors from overseas traveled to participate.
That year, May Sutton became the first Wimbledon champion from overseas upon winning the ladies' singles event.
Two years after her first victory, in 1907, she won the event again; and the same year, Norman Brookes became Wimbledon's first foreign champion of the men's singles event.
With the heightened international profile, increasing numbers of players from around Europe - most numerously from France - began entering as competitors in the tournament.
Since the championship's rise in international status, however, fewer and fewer winners have come from the home of the championship, Britain.
Over the total years of the championship's history, only thirteen times have titles in the main events been won by British players, with the last win for the British taking place in 1987 in the mixed doubles event won by Jeremy Bates and Jo Durie.
Since 1907 - two years after the first female overseas Wimbledon champion, May Sutton, won the ladies' singles event, and the same year that she won her second victory and the first male overseas champion won the men's singles event - there have been a mere two British male players to emerge as champions in Wimbledon's men's singles events (Arthur Gore in 1901, 1908, and 1909 and Fred Perry in 1934, 1935, and 1936), and five British female players to win ladies' events (Kitty McKane Godfree in 1924 and 1926, Dorothy Round in 1934 and 1937, Angela Mortimer in 1961, Ann Hayden-Jones in 1969, and Virginia Wade in 1977).
Beginning in 1950, the expansion of air travel led to the appearance of even more international competitors in the still growing tournament.
Yet despite all its developments and already rich history spanning over ninety years, Wimbledon remained a tournament geared exclusively toward amateur players, given the traditional perception of the British that amateur had meanings rooted in the meaning of the word "gentleman.
" Country clubs like the All England Club hosting Wimbledon were specifically intended to be elitist and exclusive, and sports were only truly sports if enjoyed for the purposes of leisure in a player's spare time only.
On the other hand, the word "professional" evoked stigmatic images of manual work - even within such a term as "professional tennis.
" The evocation of grueling tasks considered beneath the wealthy seemed to entirely defeat the purposes initially set forth by the country club and its legendary tournament.
By 1959 the event's organizers began contemplating allowing entrance into the tournament available to professional tennis players as well, and proposed making entrance available to members of the International Tennis Federation as well as members of the Lawn Tennis Association.
However, the International Lawn Tennis Federation disapproved of the idea and rejected the proposal in 1960 and again in 1964.
In 1967, however, upon witnessing the television success of Wimbledon's own former champions in competition against one another during a BBC invitational, the ILTF realized it might be a good idea to allow professionals to compete after all.
The following year, in 1968, in spite of the lack of support from the ILTF, Wimbledon began its open era, allowing professional tennis players, who received pay for their participation in the sport, to enter and compete in its championship for the first time, along with its amateur competitors.
That first year of Wimbledon's Open Era, the Australian Rod Layer and American Billie Jean King took home the great sports award in the singles championships.
Soon, other tournaments began following in Wimbledon's footsteps, introducing their own Open Eras.
Beginning in 1905, competitors from overseas traveled to participate.
That year, May Sutton became the first Wimbledon champion from overseas upon winning the ladies' singles event.
Two years after her first victory, in 1907, she won the event again; and the same year, Norman Brookes became Wimbledon's first foreign champion of the men's singles event.
With the heightened international profile, increasing numbers of players from around Europe - most numerously from France - began entering as competitors in the tournament.
Since the championship's rise in international status, however, fewer and fewer winners have come from the home of the championship, Britain.
Over the total years of the championship's history, only thirteen times have titles in the main events been won by British players, with the last win for the British taking place in 1987 in the mixed doubles event won by Jeremy Bates and Jo Durie.
Since 1907 - two years after the first female overseas Wimbledon champion, May Sutton, won the ladies' singles event, and the same year that she won her second victory and the first male overseas champion won the men's singles event - there have been a mere two British male players to emerge as champions in Wimbledon's men's singles events (Arthur Gore in 1901, 1908, and 1909 and Fred Perry in 1934, 1935, and 1936), and five British female players to win ladies' events (Kitty McKane Godfree in 1924 and 1926, Dorothy Round in 1934 and 1937, Angela Mortimer in 1961, Ann Hayden-Jones in 1969, and Virginia Wade in 1977).
Beginning in 1950, the expansion of air travel led to the appearance of even more international competitors in the still growing tournament.
Yet despite all its developments and already rich history spanning over ninety years, Wimbledon remained a tournament geared exclusively toward amateur players, given the traditional perception of the British that amateur had meanings rooted in the meaning of the word "gentleman.
" Country clubs like the All England Club hosting Wimbledon were specifically intended to be elitist and exclusive, and sports were only truly sports if enjoyed for the purposes of leisure in a player's spare time only.
On the other hand, the word "professional" evoked stigmatic images of manual work - even within such a term as "professional tennis.
" The evocation of grueling tasks considered beneath the wealthy seemed to entirely defeat the purposes initially set forth by the country club and its legendary tournament.
By 1959 the event's organizers began contemplating allowing entrance into the tournament available to professional tennis players as well, and proposed making entrance available to members of the International Tennis Federation as well as members of the Lawn Tennis Association.
However, the International Lawn Tennis Federation disapproved of the idea and rejected the proposal in 1960 and again in 1964.
In 1967, however, upon witnessing the television success of Wimbledon's own former champions in competition against one another during a BBC invitational, the ILTF realized it might be a good idea to allow professionals to compete after all.
The following year, in 1968, in spite of the lack of support from the ILTF, Wimbledon began its open era, allowing professional tennis players, who received pay for their participation in the sport, to enter and compete in its championship for the first time, along with its amateur competitors.
That first year of Wimbledon's Open Era, the Australian Rod Layer and American Billie Jean King took home the great sports award in the singles championships.
Soon, other tournaments began following in Wimbledon's footsteps, introducing their own Open Eras.
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