The most prestigious of all the Grand Slam events, Wimbledon was started in 1877. The Indian entrant was BK Nehru, who took part in 1905, but gave walk over to his opponent in the very first match. Three years later Sardar Nihal Singh became the first real Indian player to have played in the Wimbledon. He lost in the first round in 1908 and again in 1909 and but later made it to the third round in 1910. 

            Thereafter no other Indian appeared in the championship until 1921, the year proved a fruitful one in the history of Indian Tennis. MA Saleem a lawyer from Lahore, became the first Indian player to make it to the pre-quarterfinals in 1921. Same year another Indian MA Jacob, the British ICS officer, also managed to enter the last 16 stage. In Men's Doubles MA Jacob and Lewis Deane, a British civil servant born in India, made history by reaching semi finals. They lost in a thrilling five-sets battle to AH and FG Lowe 6-1, 6-8, 4-6, 6-0, 10-12. In 1925 MA Saleem again made it to the pre-quarter final stage along with Jagat Mohan Lal, a talented player from Punjab.

             Indian Davis Cupper Lewis Deane and Mrs Shepherd Barron of Britain entered the mixed doubles final in 1923. The Deane-Barron duo went down to Randolph Lycett and Elizabeth Ryan 4-6, 5-7 in a pulsating final. Thus Dean became the first player representing India to finish runners up in any Grand Slam event. He was also a semi-finalist in the Men's Doubles but he and his partner AH Fyzee were beaten by Randolph Lycett and Leslie Godfree in straight sets 6-8, 4-6, 3-6. 

Ramnathan		Paes-Bhupathi	Ramesh Krishnan	Vijay Amritraj	Sania Mieza

            The UK based Fyzee brothers - AH & AA, from Bombay, who first competed in the championship in 1910, staged a fabulous comeback by reaching the pre-quarter finals in 1923 and and again in 1925. In 1928 MA Saleem went on to win a Wimbledon title - Wimbledon Plate title.  The Wimbledon Plate tournament is played between the participants who get eliminated in the first and second rounds. Saleem beat JB Gilbert of Britain to clinch the title.

            In 1939, the last Wimbledon before the World War, Ghouse Mohammad Khan did country proud by becoming first ever Indian to figure in a singles quarter final. He was beaten by Bobby Riggs of USA  in straight sets 2-6, 2-6, 2-6. Riggs won all the three titles that year. Sumant Misra and Jimmy Mehta reached the Men's Doubles quarter finals in 1947 and again in 1948.

             Dilip Bose became the first player from independent India to reach the last 16 stage in 1948. He was also the first Indian to be seeded in the Wimbledon. He was seeded 15th in 1950. Narendra Nath made it to the mixed doubles quarter finals in 1951. In 1952 Rita Davar surprisingly stormed into the Junior Girls' Singles final. She was the first and only Indian girl to date to figure in the final. After winning first set against F ten Bosch of Holland in the final, she lost 7-5, 1-6, 5-7. 

             Ramnathan Krishnan, one of the greatest sports personalities ever produced by India, shot into the limelight in 1954 when he became the first Indian and first Asian as well, to win the Junior Wimbledon title. He defeated Ashley Cooper of Australia 6-2, 7-5 in the final. The previous year, he had been a losing finalist, beaten by William Knight of Britain. There after Krishnan regularly participated in the Wimbledon till the late 60s. He reached the semi-finals twice, in 1960 and 1961, a feat unparalleled by any Indian till date. On both the occasions he lost to the ultimate champions. In 1960 after beating Luis Ayala of Chile 7-5, 10-8, 6-2 in the quarter finals, he lost to Neale Fraser 3-6, 2-6, 2-6 who went on to win the title defeating Rod Laver. The following year the same story was repeated. He defeated Roy Emerson of Australia 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 quite easily in the quarter finals but went down 3-6, 6-8, 2-6 to Rod Laver.  In 1962, an ankle injury forced him out of the tournament during the third round match against John Fraser of Australia. He also reached the doubles quarter-finals four times in 1955 with Naresh Kumar, in 1959 with Luis  Ayala, in1965 with RN Howe and in 1967 with Jaideep Mukherjee. It is interesting to note that Naresh Kumar reached the fourth round in singles in 1955. He was also a losing finalist on two occasions in the Wimbledon Plate championship in 1952 (to Luis Ayala, 6-8, 2-6) and again in 1961 (to Jan Ulrich of Denmark, 4-6, 12-10, 3-6).

             Premjit Lall  became the second Indian to reach the Wimbledon Juniors final in 1958 where he lost to Earl Bucholz of USA. In 1960 Jaideep Mukherjee also made it to the Juniors final but ended on the losing side against Rodney Mandelstam of South Africa. In 1966 and 1973, Premjit Lall and Jaideep Mukherjee reached the doubles quarter-finals. Mukerjee also reached the pre quarter finals four times - in 1963, 1964, 1966 and 1973 in the singles event.  

              After Ramnathan Krishanan, Vijay Amritraj kept the country's flag flying in Wimbledon. He first made his mark in 1973 when he reached the quarter finals. He lost to eventual winner Jan Kodes of Czechoslovakia 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7 in pulsating five sets. During the match he had held Kodes twice on the match point. He again reached the quarter finals in 1981 but lost to American Jimmy Connors in a close contest 6-2, 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 2-6. The same year he also reached the quarter finals in Men's and Mixed doubles events. It is a sort of record as no other Indian has made it to the quarter final stage in all the three events in the same year. He and Anand went down to top seed John McEnroe / Peter Fleming 6-4, 2-6, 1-6, 4-6 in the Men's Doubles quarter finals.  In 1976, partnering with his elder brother Anand, he reached the doubles semi-final, but went down to Top seed Brian Gottfried (USA) and Raul Ramirez (Mexico) 3-6, 5-7, 6-8. In 1974  Ashok  Amritraj, the younger brother of Vijay, reached the Junior finals but lost to WW Martin of USA.

              In 1979 Ramesh Krishnan, the son of legendry Ramnathan, emerged on the Tennis scene. That year he emulated the achievement of his father by annexing the Junior title defeating American Don Siegler in the final. Earlier he had also won the French Junior title and was ranked number one in the world in Junior division. In 1986 he entered the quarter finals for the first and only time. It was the last occasion for the Indians to move so far in the singles competitions.

             Leander Paes became the third Indian junior player to bag Wimbledon title in 1990. He beat  the number two seed, Marcus Ondruska, of South Africa 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in the final. In later years though he has not been able to move beyond the third round in singles but inscribed his name in golden letters in Men's and Mixed Doubles events. Partnering Mahesh Bhupathi in 1999, he annexed the first ever Men's Doubles title beating Dutchman Paul Haarhuis and American Jared Palmer 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 in the summit clash. The same year he and his American partner Lisa Raymond also lifted the Mixed Doubles crown. The duo beat Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) and Anna Kournikova (Russia) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the final. In 2002 Mahesh Bhupathi in partneship with Elena Likhovtseva of Russia repeated the Paes / Raymond feat by winning the Mixed Doubles title. They beat Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-2, 1-6, 6-1. The following year Paes formed the formidable combination with Martina Navratilova of USA to clinch his second Mixed Doubles title. In 2005 it was the turn of Mahesh Bhupathi to prove his mettle. Partnering Mary Pierce of France, the duo downed

            Before the emergence of Sania Mirza, the Indian women players hardly left any impression on Wimbledon. Jenny Boland (nee Sandison) supposed to be the first Indian woman representative in the Wimbledon. She participated in 1929 and lost to S Barbier of France in the first round. Leela Dayal was the first Indian lady to win a round in Wimbledon. She defeated GM Southwell of Britain 4-6, 10-8, 6-2 before going down to I Adamoff of France in the second round.  

           Sania Mirza made the headlines at Wimbledon in 2003 when she and her Russian partner Alisa Kleybanova won the Girls Doubles title. She also became the first Indian woman player to be seeded in Wimbledon. She was seeded 32nd in 2008. In 2011 Sania made it to the semi finals in Women's Doubles (with Elena Vesnina) and quarter finals in Mixed Doubles (with Rohan Bopanna).