The
first ever Wimbledon tennis championship began on July 9, 1877, which is
incidentally the first official lawn tennis tournament.
It
was the Gentlemen’s Singles competition in a championship organised by the All
England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon, in West London. This would
later be recognised as the first Grand Slam tournament or “Major”.
The first Wimbledon
men’s champion was Londoner Spencer Gore, aged 27. After rain delayed their
match for three days, he beat 28-year-old William Marshall in three straight
sets that lasted 48 minutes and were played before a crowd of about 200. Entry
for each spectator cost one shilling (5p or 60 cents).
Like all 22 players in the tournament, Gore and
Marshall had to pay an entrance fee of one guinea (£1.05 or $1.27).
Their match was delayed not only by rain but by
cricket. The tennis championship was suspended for the weekend so as not to
clash with the annual Eton v Harrow schoolboy cricket match at Lord’s
Cricket Ground. Spencer Gore would probably have supported the decision. He was
a keen cricketer and said later that he found tennis “rather boring.”
Bored or not, he received 12 guineas (£12.60 or
$15.20) in prize money and a silver challenge cup, valued at 25 guineas
(£25.25, or $30.50). The tournament made a profit of £10 ($12).
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