1877 Wimbledon Championship

  • Australasian Championships
  • French tennis championships
  • Wimbledon Championships
  • U.S. National Championships

The first Wimbledon Championships were held from 9 to 16 July 1877 at the former site of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on Worple Road in London. When first organized exclusively as men's singles tournament, reported 22 participants, mainly real tennis player, who each pay an entry fee of a guinea each. The prize money for the winners was 12 guineas and one donated by the magazine The Field silver cup worth 25 guineas. The second and third placings were given prizes worth seven and three guineas.

Prehistory

The All England Club was founded in 1868 as Croquetverein. 1869 rented the club for this purpose on a meadow at the Worple Road for the price of 50 pounds in the first, 75 pounds and 100 pounds in the next from the third year. The land was then in an agricultural area; so in 1870 the owner of a neighboring property was instructed to build a fence so that his cattle could not graze on the Croquetfeld. There was a gardener employed beyond that should take care of the maintenance of the meadow.

In February 1875 it was decided at a club meeting at the suggestion of President Henry Jones to set up a first -pitch for lawn tennis and badminton on the site, which a year later, four more tennis courts followed. In April 1877, the Lawn Tennis Association took on in his name, and it was prepared for a first tournament for July of the same year. Ahead of the tournament was set by a Rules Committee, consisting of Julian Marshall, Henry Jones and Charles Gilbert Heathcote, the Rules of Tennis. The proceeds from the tournament supposedly a defective lawn roller for croquet should be repaired.

The first public announcement of the tournament was released on 9 June 1877 in the sports magazine The Field and was directed especially to players:

"The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon, propose to hold a lawn tennis meeting, open to all amateurs, on Monday, July 9th and Following days. Entrance fee, £ 1 1s 0d. Two prices will be givenName - one gold champion prize to the winner, one silver to the second player. "

Shortly before the start of the tournament a new notice was published on July 6 in The Times newspaper:

"Next week at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club Ground a Lawn Tennis Championship Meeting will be held. The ground is situated close to the Wimbledon station on the South Western Railway, and is Sufficiently large for the errection of 30 " courts". On each day the competition will begin at 3:30, the first ties, of course, beginning on Monday. The Hon Sec. of the meeting will officiate as referee. The entries are Numerous. "

Contrary to the announcement of the terrain at the Worple Road offered but only accommodate 12 tennis courts. At the tournament this year, about five fields were probably built.

The tournament was originally scheduled for only four days. In particular, the terrain on the following Friday and Saturday was needed for a croquet between the teams of Eton College and Harrow School.

Regulate

This from the "inventor" of tennis, Walter Clopton Wingfield, provided, and 1875 in a first revision of the rules adopted by the Marylebone Cricket Club, hourglass-shaped box was discarded and instead a rectangular (single) field of the ( still available ) Size introduced by 27 times 78 feet. The service line was located 26 feet from the net. The height of the net is fixed to the post 5 feet (about 1.5 m), and in the middle of three feet ( 0.91 m). The balls had a diameter of 2 1/4 to 2 5/ 8 inch (about 5.7 to 6.7 cm) and have 1 1/ 4 to 1 1/2 ounces (about 35-42 g) be hard. If the ball went into the net when serving or not emerged in the service court, the player was allowed to repeat the charge once. The server had to be located with one foot behind the baseline. In contrast to the 1875 established rules, in which a game went to 15 points and played at a level of 2:14 p.m. on two points difference, we now took over the numbering from the real tennis ( in tennis counting the today's equivalent ) complete.

It was played on three winning sets. One set was won when a player won six games for themselves. Only in the final to be played from a score of 5:5 in a set of two games difference, but this did not occur this year.

Men's Singles

On Saturday, July 7, drawing the players took place. William Cecil Marshall received a bye in the semifinals yet. The system used today, after all byes are allocated to the first round of a tournament, was not introduced until 1885.

On the following Monday the ten games of the first round were held under the supervision of the referee Henry Jones in good weather. On Tuesday followed the games of the second round, a day later the quarter-finals was held. On Thursday, however, the weather deteriorated, so that only the semi-finals were played. The finale was scheduled for the upcoming in the next few days croquet on Monday, July 16. However, since it was raining that day, moved to the finals again for three days.

On Thursday, July 19, finally tracked about 200 spectators at an entrance fee of one shilling the final between Spencer Gore and William Cecil Marshall. Gore won against Marshall by 6:1, 6:2 and 6:4.

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