(CNN) -- Britain hosts a sporting event over the next fortnight that manages to combine every conceivable stereotype associated with the nation -- rain, royalty and heroic British failure. Wimbledon follows the Queen's Diamond Jubilee -- when Britons, with Union Jacks in hand, stood in the pouring rain as the monarch cruised past in a barge on the Thames -- and a day after the exit of England's soccer team from a major international tournament -- as so often before on penalties -- after defeat by Italy in Euro 2012. Since its inception in 1877 the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in a small, affluent suburb of south west London that gives the event its name, has presided over a tournament -- the oldest and grandest on the tennis circuit -- that has become more than simply another fixture on the grand slam calender.
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Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world
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It began in 1877; defending champion Novak Djokovic hails its "tradition"
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The tournament is a powerful brand exporting one aspect of "Britishness"
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But is Wimbledon still a relevant reflection of the country today?
"@placeholder is the right sort of template for the 21st century in that it is a multinational state that isn't at war with itself, that isn't tearing itself apart, and is actually showing the world how to function."