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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/1877 Wimbledon Championship

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1877 Wimbledon Championship

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This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 12, 2015 by Brianboulton (talk) 22:45, 24 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The 1877 Wimbledon Championship was was the world's first official lawn tennis tournament and was held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club (AEC&LTC) in Wimbledon, London. The AEC&LTC had been founded in July 1868 and lawn tennis was introduced in February 1875. 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. The Gentlemen's Singles competition, the only event of the championship, was contested on grass courts by 22 players. The tournament started on 9 July 1877, and the final, delayed for three days by rain, was played on 19 July, in front of a crowd of about 200 people who paid an entry fee of one shilling. Spencer Gore, a 27-year-old rackets player, became the first Wimbledon champion by defeating William Marshall in three- sets final that lasted 48 minutes. He received 12 guineas in prize money and a silver challenge cup, donated by the sports magazine The Field. The tournament made a profit of £10 and the pony roller remained in use. (Full article...)