People all over the world know Wimbledon as the centre of lawn tennis. In 1874 it was a country village, but it was the home of the All England Croquet Club. The Club had been there since 1864. A lot of people played croquet in England at that time and enjoyed it, but the national championships did not attract many people. So the Club had very little money. 'This new game of lawn tennis seems to have plenty of action ( 精彩场面), and people like watching it,' they thought. 'Shall we allow people to play lawn tennis on some of our beautiful croquet lawns?' In 1877, Wimbledon held the first world lawn tennis championships (men's singles). Wimbledon grew. There was some surprise and doubt, of course, when the Club allowed women to play in the first women's singles championship in 1884. But the ladies played well—even in long skirts that hid their legs and feet. Until 1907 the winners, both men and women, were always British, but since 1936 the victory has usually gone to an American or an Australian. British people were very happy when an English girl, Ann Jones, won the championship in 1969. Wimbledon is known all over the world as______.