Spencer Gore

Spencer William Gore is one of the famed tennis players in his time in the sports arena.

He was born on March 10, 1850 and died on April 19, 1906. Gore was not only a tennis enthusiast, but was also a cricketer for Surrey.

In 1877, with the first Lawn Tennis tournament that was played in two years in the previous year, the All England Croquet Club's name was transformed into the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. With the Gentleman's Singles', that same year marked the first Wimbledon lawn tennis championship match.

In an inaugural championship, Spencer Gore was said to be one of the twenty two players who opened his wallet to pay a guinea just so he could it enter the court. During those times and in 1884, women were not allowed to enter the court. And if the women's division had to complete twenty one matches, it was painstakingly extended for up to five years and even more.

At the Lord's Cricket Ground, the championship was stopped and did not pursue for the coming weekend, so it would not greatly affect or go against the yearly Eton vs. Harrow cricket match. Later, the already fixed schedule of the Monday match was also cancelled for four consecutive days because of the ever pouring rain. Gore reached the final of the match with William Marshall as his opponent by dropping two sets in his four games. Gore then won with straight sets with the scores 6-1, 6-2, and 6-4 with only forty minutes.

The Field, a sports magazine, presented Spencer Gore's first prize of a silver cup and 12 guineas and the latter proudly collected them. In the next year, Spencer Gore lost his match in the Gentleman's Singles final against Frank Hadow with the scores 7-5, 6-1, and 9-7.

At the young age of 56, Spencer Gore died in Ramsgate, Kent.