Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club has held the Championships since 1877, making it the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and it is the only Grand Slam still played on grass. The museum covers the history from Victorian equipment through to the present, with the trophies, a recreated 1980s dressing room and a hologram of John McEnroe discussing his era. The tour goes behind the scenes to the press interview room, No. 1 Court, the players' entrance and, when play permits, Centre Court, whose retractable roof was installed in 2009 and takes about half an hour to close and the air to be conditioned. The grass is cut to exactly eight millimetres during the tournament and the courts are re-sown each autumn.

What you actually see

• The trophies - the men's and women's championship silverware.
• Centre Court - accessible on tours outside play, with its 2009 retractable roof.
• The McEnroe hologram - a recorded projection in a recreated dressing room.
• The grass regime - the eight-millimetre cut and annual re-sowing explained.

When to go

Year-round for the museum and tour; the Championships run for a fortnight from late June, when tours stop and the museum is open only to ticket holders. The public ballot for match tickets opens months ahead.

Honest expectations

During the Championships the museum is inaccessible to general visitors and the grounds require a match ticket. Tours do not enter Centre Court when maintenance or play is under way. Match tickets are balloted or require queueing overnight.

Nearby

Wimbledon Common and the village lie south; Richmond Park is a short drive northwest.