The Championships, Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is generally considered the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in the London suburb of Wimbledon since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, and the only one still played on the game's original surface, grass, which gave the game of lawn tennis its name.

The tournament takes place over two weeks in late June and early July, culminating with the ladies' and gentlemen's singles final, scheduled respectively for the second Saturday and Sunday. Each year, five major events are contested, as well as four junior events and four invitational events.

The hard court Australian Open and clay court French Open precede Wimbledon in the calendar year. The hard court US Open follows. For men, the grass court Queen's Club Championships, also in London, the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, and the Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands are popular warm up tournaments for Wimbledon. For women, there are warm-up tournaments in Birmingham and Eastbourne.

Wimbledon traditions include the eating of strawberries and cream, drinking Pimms spritzers, royal patronage, and a strict dress code for competitors. In 2009, Wimbledon's Centre Court was fitted with a retractable roof to insure against the possibility of rain delays interrupting Centre Court matches during the tournament.

Wimbledon 2009
Serena Williams won the 2009 Wimbledon women's singles final Saturday, beating older sister Venus Williams 7-6, 6-2.

"She was too good," Venus said afterward. "She had an answer for everything and she played the best tennis today. So, congratulations."

It was Serena's third Wimbledon title -- beating her sister in the final all three times -- and 11th Grand Slam title. It was also the eighth time in the last 10 years that a Williams sister has won Wimbledon and the eighth Williams vs. Williams Grand Slam final.

In the first set, the sisters alternated winning service games, and Serena taking the tiebreak to win the set. They alternated winning their service games at the start of the second set as well, but when Serena finally got a break point in the sixth game of the second set, Venus double faulted and Serena led the set, 4-2.

From there it was clear that Serena was going to win the match. Serena held serve to go up 5-2, and won a lengthy, hard-fought final game to take the championship.

"It feels so amazing," Serena said of beating the big sister who had won the last two Wimbledon singles finals. "It hasn't settled in that I won yet."