Staging the greatest tournament in the world involves a lot of planning. The Championships are run by a Committee consisting of the 12-member All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) Committee and 7 nominees from the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

Preparation for The Championships begins directly after the preceding meeting. Improvements are considered by the Committee and the decisions taken are implemented by seven full-time executives and their staff. Repairs to the courts and reseeding of the grass takes place during the Summer and early Autumn.

Below are some examples of how the LTA and the AELTC cooperate for the benefit of British Tennis:

Play Tennis Zone
The LTA has been involved in setting up and running an interactive area for younger tennis fans, known as a Play Tennis Zone. Over 5000 kids have taken advantage of the facility, with a host of celebrities each year. It is located behind Court 13, so please drop in if you're visiting Wimbledon.


Performance Journey
Launched by the All England Club in April 2001, we have arguably the biggest draw in British tennis to act as a spur to Britain's young tennis players, to encourage children and young people to participate in the sport, and to promote tennis in general. Please visit: www.LTA.org.uk


Wimbledon Surplus
Every penny of the funds generated by The Championships is ploughed back into developing tennis, in order to achieve our goal of more and better players.
See how we are working towards our vision for the sport at: www.LTA.org.uk/AboutUs


Visit the LTA at Wimbledon
During The Championships, the LTA Information Centre is open, providing ticket holders with access to information on all aspects of tennis in Britain. You can find out about our Membership Scheme, forthcoming events and where you can play.


If you are visiting The Championships, please do come and visit the LTA. Our Information Centre is located on the lower level of the No. 1 Court complex, next to the Wimbledon Shop and close to Gate 3.

Players wishing to enter The Championships are required to submit their entry on a special form, which must be submitted six weeks before The Championships begin. The Committee of Management, with the assistance of the Referee, use computer rankings to determine which players will be admitted directly into Championship events, those who have to qualify and those who are rejected.

About 500 entries, including juniors, are accepted. Of these, 128 are included in the draw for the Gentlemen's Singles and Ladies' Singles Championships, 64 pairs for the Gentlemen's Doubles and Ladies' Doubles and 48 pairs for the Mixed Doubles Championships.

Qualifying

Qualifiers are the winners of the qualifying competitions staged at Roehampton the week before The Championships.

Players entering the singles events must play three rounds on grass in the week before The Championships. Unlike The Championships, there is no single 'winner' of Qualifying. Instead the players who win all three rounds — 16 in the Gentlemen's Singles and 12 in the Ladies' Singles — will progress, along with four pairs in each of the Ladies' and Men's Doubles events.

Lucky losers are losers from the final round of qualifying competitions — chosen in order of world rankings — to fill any vacancy which occurs in the draw before the first round has been completed.

Wild cards

Wild cards are players without a high enough world ranking who are accepted directly into the main Championship draws at the discretion of the Committee. Wild cards are usually offered on the basis of past performance at Wimbledon or to increase British interest. Wild cards have been allocated since 1977 and from 2003 some singles Wild Cards have been determined by competition. The only wild card to win the Men's Singles title was Goran Ivanisevic in 2001. No Wild Card has won the Ladies' Singles title.

Seeding

A simplified form of seeding was introduced in 1924 when up to four representatives of a nation were drawn in the four different quarters of the draw. In 1927 full seeding was carried out and competitors were selected according to ability, irrespective of nationality. Seeding has been based on computer rankings since 1975.

Since 1927 only two unseeded players have won the Gentlemen’s Singles — Boris Becker in 1985 and Goran Ivanisevic in 2001. No unseeded player has ever won the Ladies’ Singles. Eleven unseeded players have reached the final of the Gentlemen’s Singles and four unseeded players have reached the final of the Ladies’ Singles. Nine unseeded pairs have won the Gentlemen’s Doubles, five unseeded pairs have won the Ladies’ Doubles and ten unseeded pairs have won the Mixed Doubles.