The first Wimbledon Championships were held in 1877. The inaugural tournament began on 9 July at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club’s original ground on Worple Road in Wimbledon, London.
Only the gentlemen’s singles event was contested, with 22 men paying one guinea to enter. Spencer Gore, a 27-year-old rackets player, became the first Wimbledon champion after defeating William Marshall 6–1, 6–2, 6–4 in a final watched by about 200 spectators. Rain delayed the final by three days, so it was played on 19 July.
The tournament was organised partly to raise money to repair the club’s pony roller, which was used to maintain the lawns. Lawn tennis had recently been added to the club’s activities as interest in croquet declined. The event was initially called the Lawn Tennis Championship, and the club’s name included “Croquet and Lawn Tennis.”
Women’s singles and men’s doubles were not added until 1884. The club moved from Worple Road to its present Church Road site in 1922, but the championship’s founding date remains 1877.