The tournament was played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

William Larned, Norman Brookes, Anthony Wilding, and Laurence Doherty were noted absences.

[1][3] Major Ritchie was a solid player, having gone deep into Wimbledon multiple times but never having won in singles (he took doubles titles in 1908 and 1910 with Wilding).

Austria, Bohemia, Canada, the Netherlands, and South Africa each made their debut in the event.

The Olympics started three days after the end of the 1908 Wimbledon Championships, a scheduling issue which the Official Report recommended avoiding in the future.