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spencer gore winner of 1877

Spencer Gore is immortalised in history as the first winner of a Grand Slam title. Gore, an old Harrovian, was born and bred in Wimbledon and was a good all round sportsman. He played the game of rackets, real tennis and played cricket to a good standard as well. Tennis was always inferior to cricket in Gore's mind. He is famous for saying "That anyone who has really played well at cricket, tennis, or even rackets, will ever seriously give his attention to lawn tennis, beyond showing himself to be a promising player, is extremely doubtful; for in all probability the monotony of the game would choke him off before he had time to excel in it." In the inaugural Wimbledon championships in 1877 Gore came through a field of 22 entrants and some time after half past four on Thursday 19th July 1877 he beat William Marshall in the final to become the first ever Wimbledon champion. The following year Gore stood out until the Challenge Round, where he met Frank Hadow. Hadow used the lob successfully, beating Gore at the net and Gore surrendered his title in straight sets. That was the last time Gore played tournament tennis. He died in 1906 at the age of 56.

Frank Hadow winner of 1878

Frank Hadow only entered one Grand Slam event in his career and he won it. Hadow, an old Harrovian, had emigrated to Ceylon to become a tea planter. He was visiting England in the summer of 1878 and learnt to play the game of lawn tennis, having previously played the sport of rackets to a good standard. The Wimbledon championships were being held so Hadow entered the event, along with his brother. Despite the fact he was suffering from the effects of a flu-like virus he had acquired, Hadow made his way through to the Challenge Round, where he met defending champion Spencer Gore. The bug Hadow was suffering from reached its peak on the day of his match with Gore. Hadow saw no point in trying to pass Gore down the line over the high part of the net, which at that time was four feet nine inches high, so he lobbed instead. Hadow won in straight sets. Hadow is the only man to have never lost a set in the Wimbledon championships. He went back to Ceylon in the autumn of 1878 and did not return to Britain until 1926, when he attended the Jubilee championships. He may have only played the game of tennis for a few months in 1878 but Hadow is immortalised as a Wimbledon champion. He died in 1946 at the age of 91.

JOHN HARTLEY winner of 1879 and 1880

The Reverend John Hartley was an old Harrovian who graduated from Oxford. The 30 year old Hartley, who also played the game of real tennis, first entered the Wimbledon championships in 1879. He had not expected to do very well in the tournament so had made no arrangements for anyone to take over his Sunday sermon. Consequently he found himself scheduled to play the final on Monday when he had made no provision for his Sunday duties in church. He rushed back to his parish in Yorkshire to give his sermon, then got up at the crack of dawn on Monday and caught the train down to London in time for his Wimbledon final later in the day. In that All comers final Hartley faced the Irishman Vere St. Leger Goold. Hartley's great retrieving prowess provided a great spectacle, many onlookers rating this match the best ever seen up until that point. Hartley won in straight sets. Frank Hadow was not defending his title so there was no Challenge Round that year. In 1907 Goold was convicted of murdering a Danish widow in Monte Carlo. How ironic that Hartley, the only clergyman to win a Grand Slam title, and Goold, the only tennis player convicted of murder, should have faced each other in a Wimbledon final. Hartley successfully defended his title in the Challenge Round the following year beating Herbert Lawford. In 1881 Hartley defended his title in the Challenge Round once again, but this time he found William Renshaw's power game far too good. Hartley managed to win just two games. Hartley didn't enter the event the following year and made his final Wimbledon appearance in 1883, where he lost in the second round to Herbert Wilberforce. Later he became Canon Hartley and was Rural Dean in the Ripon Diocese for 25 years. He died in 1935 at the age of 86.

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