With the smell of 28,000 freshly picked Kent strawberries and 7,000 litres of cream in the air, and the unmistakable sound of over 50,000 ricochetting tennis balls, Wimbledon is surely here.

At 137 years old, Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, starting out as a men’s only game with wooden rackets and tickets priced at a shilling each.

Women joined in the prestigious games in 1884, and as time went on we started to see a lot more of them. As the floor length dresses began creeping up, one brush of the wind and those brightly coloured pants had officials reaching for the rule book but without avail.

However, in 1995 Tim Henman pushed the officials over the edge when angrily smashing a tennis ball inadvertently into the face of an innocent ball girl, crowning him the first disqualied competitor of Wimbledon ever.

In 2007, 123 years after women began competing at Wimbledon, the women’s prize money finally equalled that of the men – and their serves aren’t far behind either – Taylor Dent’s fastest serve clocked at 148 mph in 2010 and Venus Williams creeping up with 129 mph in 2008. Maria Sharapova also reached an impressive 105 decibel grunt, the loudest ever to be recorded throughout Wimbledon!

But Rufus the hawk hasn’t got his eye on the ball, as he embarks on his daily patrol around the Wimbledon grounds in pursuit of the pigeons out to ‘spoil’ the idyllic settings.

So, in the spirt of being British – grab a bowl of strawberries and cream, pop the tennis on and let’s hope for another British winner!