Wimbledon in the 21st Century
Wimbledon is widely considered to be the premier tennis tournament in the world and the priority of The All England Lawn Tennis Club, which hosts The Championships, is to maintain its leadership into the twenty-first century. To that end a Long Term Plan was unveiled in 1993, which will improve the quality of the event for spectators, players, officials and neighbours.
Stage one of the Plan was completed for the 1997 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 has been completed with the construction of an entrance building, housing Club staff, museum, bank and ticket office.
A new retractable roof has been built in time for the 2009 Championships, marking the first time in the tournament's history that rain will not stop play on Centre Court. The All England Club tested the new roof at an event called A Centre Court Celebration on Sunday 17 May 2009, which featured exhibition matches involving Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters and Tim Henman. A new 4000-seat No. 2 Court has been built on the site of the old No. 13 Court and will also be ready for the 2009 Championships. A new 2000-seat No. 3 Court is to be built on the site of the old Court No.2 with work starting after the 2009 Championships.
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