On This Day

1st Wimbledon Men's Tennis: 27-year-old English rackets player Spencer Gore wins inaugural event; beats William Marshall

1st Wimbledon Men's Tennis: 27-year-old English rackets player Spencer Gore wins inaugural event; beats William Marshall 6-1, 6-2, 6-4

The 1877 Wimbledon Championship was a men's tennis tournament held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, London. It was the world's first official lawn tennis tournament, and was later recognised as the first Grand Slam tournament or "Major". The AEC & LTC had been founded in July 1868, as the All England Croquet Club. Lawn tennis was introduced in February 1875 to compensate for the waning interest in croquet. In June 1877 the club decided to organise a tennis tournament to pay for the repair of its pony roller, needed to maintain the lawns. A set of rules was drawn up for the tournament, derived from the first standardised rules of tennis issued by the Marylebone Cricket Club in May 1875.

Historical Significance

The 1877 Wimbledon Championship was a men's tennis tournament held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, London.

Events Before

  1. The Reichsbank, the central bank of the German Empire, opens in Berlin

    The Reichsbank, the central bank of the German Empire, opens in Berlin

  2. Albert Spalding invests $800 to start a sporting goods company, manufacturing the first official baseball, tennis ball,

    Albert Spalding invests $800 to start a sporting goods company, manufacturing the first official baseball, tennis ball, basketball, golf ball, and football

  3. Julius Wolff opens the Wolff & Reesing Cannery, the first US sardine factory, in Eastport, Maine

    Julius Wolff opens the Wolff & Reesing Cannery, the first US sardine factory, in Eastport, Maine

  4. Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents, the Supreme Court eventually rules Bell th

    Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents, the Supreme Court eventually rules Bell the rightful inventor

  5. Sardines first canned by Julius Wolff in Eastport, Maine

    Sardines first canned by Julius Wolff in Eastport, Maine

Events After

  1. First US bicycle club, the Boston Bicycle Club, forms

    The Capital Bicycle Club was an early American cycling club based in Washington, D.C.

  2. Thomas Edison is granted a patent for his cylinder phonograph [1]

    A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound.

  3. 53rd UK Prime Minister Archibald Primrose (31) weds heiress Hannah de Rothschild (27) at the Board of Guardians in Mount

    53rd UK Prime Minister Archibald Primrose (31) weds heiress Hannah de Rothschild (27) at the Board of Guardians in Mount Street, London

  4. W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's comic opera "H.M.S. Pinafore" premieres in London, their first international success

    H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert.

  5. Congress of Berlin begins, determines the territories of the states in the Balkan peninsula following the Russo-Turkish

    Congress of Berlin begins, determines the territories of the states in the Balkan peninsula following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78

More from the 1870s

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on July 19, 1877?
The 1877 Wimbledon Championship was a men's tennis tournament held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, London. It was the world's first official lawn tennis tournament, and was later recognised as the first Grand Slam tournament or "Major". The AEC & LTC had been founded in July 1868, as the All England Croquet Club.
Why is 1st Wimbledon Men's Tennis: 27-year-old English rackets player Spencer Gore w... significant?
The 1877 Wimbledon Championship was a men's tennis tournament held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, London.

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