The Modern History of Wimbledon

In 1975, Arthur Ashe made history by becoming the first black winner of the Men's Singles.

Bjorn Borg of Sweden dominated the 1980s and won the Men's Singles title five times in succession - a feat not achieved since the beginning of the century.

The end of the Borg era saw the emergence of brash American John McEnroe, who thrilled the crowd with his skills as much as he upset them with his temper.

At just 17, Boris Becker became the youngest player, the first unseeded player and the first German to win the Men's Singles title in 1985.

America's Martina Navratilova became the first player to win the Ladies' Singles title six times in succession - she would win the title a further three times, and even appeared in the final as late as 1994.

It took the emergence of German starlet Steffi Graf to challenge Navratilova - she would win the Ladies' title a total of seven times.

In 1996, Martina Hingis of Switzerland, became the youngest ever Champion, winning the Ladies' Doubles Championship at the age of just 15.

American 'Pistol' Pete Sampras dominated the Men's Singles throughout the '90s - only a victory for Dutchman Richard Krajicek in 1996 stopped the great man winning the title eight years in succession.

After Sampras secured his record seventh title in 2000, the 21st century has seen four other men's singles champions.

In 2001 the volatile and unseeded Croatian Goran Ivanisevic downed Patrick Rafter in five epic sets to lift his maiden Grand Slam title after having lost in the final of Wimbledon three times in the 90s.

This was followed by the tenacious Aussie Lleyton Hewitt's demolition of Argentina's David Nalbandian in 2002 and the phenomenally talented Roger Federer victory over Mark Philippoussis a year later. Federer also won in 2004 when he beat Andy Roddick.

On the women's front the Williams sisters have been in a class of their own with Venus lifting the title in 2000 and 2001 and sibling Serena for the past two years.

The 17 year old virtual unknown Russian, Maria Sharapova caused a massive upset in 2004 when she beat Serena Williams in straight sets to win the Women's Singles Title.

This year's Wimbledon welcomes the shock winner of this year's French Open, Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal.