Centre Court

Centre Court is the main court of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, south-west London, and the best-known grass court in the world. It was built in 1922 on Church Road after the club outgrew its original Worple Road ground. The court is used only during the two-week Championships in late June and early July; for the remaining 50 weeks the rye-grass surface rests, mown by hand to exactly eight millimetres. In 2009 a retractable roof was added that closes in under ten minutes and effectively ended rain delays on the show court. Outside the tournament the court can be visited on the Wimbledon Tour, which passes the Royal Box and shows the Kipling quotation above the players' entrance.