All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club are invited to become members. The patron of the club is Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and the President is The Duke of Kent. The Club was founded by six gentlemen at the offices of "The Field" on 23 July 1868 at the height of a croquet craze as the "All England Croquet Club," and held its first croquet competition in 1870. Its original ground was situated off Worple Road, Wimbledon. Croquet was very popular there until the then-infant sport of lawn tennis (a game introduced by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so prior, and originally called "Sphairistikè") was
The Championships, Wimbledon the 2017 tournament would begin on Monday 3 July. Other grass-court tournaments before Wimbledon are Eastbourne, England, and Rosmalen in the Netherlands, both combining mixed events. The other women's warm-up tournament for Wimbledon is Birmingham, also in England. The only grass-court tournament scheduled after the Championships is the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at Newport, Rhode Island, USA, which takes place the week after Wimbledon. Wimbledon is scheduled for 14 days, beginning on a Monday and ending on a Sunday. Before 1982 it ended a day earlier, with the women's singles final on the Friday and the men's singles final