Nowadays, the official seating capacity of the Centre Court at Wimbledon is 14,979. However, what is now, arguably, the most famous tennis court in the world has undergone a number of significant changes since it was opened, in its current location, by His Majesty King George V on June 22, 1922. The original seating capacity was 9,989, with standing room for an additional 3,400 spectators.
The Wimbledon Championships were suspended for the duration of World War II but, on October 11,1940, a 500lb bomb struck the roof of Centre Court, destroying 1,200 seats. Remarkably, resumed in SW19 in 1946, following the cessation of hostilities, but the damage to Centre Court was not repaired until 1947, such that the seating capacity was restricted.
In 1979, the roof of Centre Court was raised, to make provision for over 1,000 additional seats, while the East Side Building, opened in 1985, added over 800 more. In 1992, the roof was completely replaced, with a structure supported by four, rather than 26, thereby providing unrestricted viewing for over 3,500 more seatholders.
The most noteworthy change, though, came in the late noughties, with the installation of six rows of wider, more comfortable seating – a total of 1,200 seats – on the upper tier on three sides of Centre Court. Aside from increasing seating capacity to its current level, the major construction project also involved the installation of a new, concenrtina-style retractable roof, which was first used on June 29, 2009.
Incidentally, the name ‘Centre Court’ was originally a throwback to the early days of the Wimbledon Championships at the original site of the All England Croquet Club on nearby Worple Road. On the new site, in Church Road, Centre Court was not, in fact, central until four new courts were opened on the north side of the grounds in 1980.