Which player won Wimbledon's first gentlemen's singles final?

Spencer Gore won Wimbledon’s first gentlemen’s singles final in 1877.

Gore defeated William Marshall 6–1, 6–2, 6–4 in a final lasting 48 minutes. A 27-year-old rackets player from Wandsworth, Gore became the first Wimbledon champion at what was then the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. The inaugural tournament was the world’s first officially recognised lawn-tennis championship.

Only one event was held in 1877: gentlemen’s singles. Twenty-two players entered after paying a one-guinea entry fee, and the competition was played on a grass court laid out at the club. The final was postponed by rain before being completed on 19 July, with roughly 200 spectators watching.

Gore’s victory is sometimes confused with the first women’s Wimbledon title or the first modern Grand Slam final. Wimbledon did not introduce ladies’ singles until 1884, while the term “Grand Slam” and the modern four-major structure came much later. Gore defended his title in 1878, but lost the 1879 final to Irish player John Hartley.