•    The name 1tennis’ is thought to come from the French ‘tenez!’ (‘take’ or ‘receive’), a server’s warning shout.

•    Brame Hillyard became the first man to play while wearing shorts in 1930. In subsequent tournaments, the trend caught on and now every player wears them.

•    The youngest player to win a Wimbledon singles event is Charlotte (Lottie) Dod who did it in 1887, at the age of 15 years, 285 days. Interestingly, she was also a silver medallist in archery at the 1908 Olympics, a member of the British national field hockey team in 1899, and the British Amateur golf champ in 1904. Quite a sporting lady!

•    The records for fastest serve are held by Taylor Dent for men and Venus Williams for women. Dent served at 148 mph in 2010 while Venus Williams did it at 129 mph in 2008.

•    The first-ever player to be disqualified from the men’s doubles was Tim Henman in 1995, for hitting a ball in anger which accidentally struck a ball girl on face. (Later he did apologise to the girl by giving her a bouquet of flowers and appreciating her face!)

•    Spencer Gore, the first Wimbledon Champion in 1877, said he doubted that the game of tennis would ever become popular. Maybe it was unsurprising as he only won 12 guineas as winner’s prize money and spectators paid just one shilling to watch the final.

•    John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played the longest tennis match at Wimbledon in 2010. Isner won 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68, in a match that lasted 11 hours and five minutes over 3 days. Both players broke several Wimbledon and tennis records in the course of the match.

•    Maria Sharapova broke the record for the loudest grunts on court -- recorded at a deafening 101.2 decibels! — AI