Wimbledon holds five main events each year: gentlemen’s singles, ladies’ singles, gentlemen’s doubles, ladies’ doubles, and mixed doubles.
The five events form the traditional Championship programme and are the competitions most closely associated with Wimbledon’s famous grass courts. The singles draws showcase individual players, while the doubles events use teams of two; mixed doubles pairs one man and one woman.
Wimbledon’s event structure developed gradually. The inaugural 1877 Championship featured only the gentlemen’s singles competition. Ladies’ singles and gentlemen’s doubles were added in 1884, while ladies’ doubles and mixed doubles joined the programme in 1913. Together, these five events became the core senior championships.
The number five can be misleading because Wimbledon also stages junior, wheelchair, qualifying, and invitation competitions. Those are official parts of the wider fortnight but are not counted as the five main events. The phrase therefore refers to the principal senior championship competitions, not every tournament or draw held at the venue.