Wimbledon Championships 1878

◄ Wimbledon Championships 1878 ►
Date:	July 15 - July 20, 1878
Edition:	2.  Wimbledon Championships
Place:	London
Covering:	race
Defending champion
Men's singles :	Spencer Gore
winner
Men's singles :	Frank Hadow
Grand Slams 1878
Australasian Championships French tennis championships Wimbledon Championships US National Championships

The second Wimbledon Championships took place on July 15-20, 1878 on the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club .

With the second edition, a tournament system consisting of the so-called All-Comers competition and the subsequent Challenge Round was introduced. The defending champion was automatically qualified for the final (the Challenge Round ), where he met the challenger, who had to work his way through the field of participants in the All-Comers competition. This system was maintained at the Wimbledon tournament until 1922. Another rule change was applied in the Challenge Round : winning a set required two game differences from a score of 5: 5 (“advantage games”).

From the experience of the first tournament, in which the server had won 62% of all games, it was decided to move the service line four feet (1.2 m) closer to the net. As a result, the field of service was only one foot (30 cm) longer than today at 22 feet. The height of the netting on the posts has been reduced slightly by three inches . The weight of one ball was set at 2 ounces (56 g).

In addition to last year's winner Spencer Gore , 34 players took part in the tournament. The Challenge Round was followed by around 700 spectators.

Arthur Thomas Myers introduced the overhead serve in this tournament.

Men's singles

→ Main article : Wimbledon Championships 1878 / men's singles

In the Challenge Round , Frank Hadow beat defending champion Spencer Gore . Hadow successfully used the praise against Gore, whose tactic, as in the previous year, was to score points on the net by volley . In the All-Comers final, Hadow had previously defeated Lestocq Robert Erskine .

Since the practice of volley was controversial at the time, there were efforts to make it more difficult before the final; so a "volley line" should be drawn parallel to the net, up to which the player could complete. A second suggestion made in this connection to forbid touching the net with the bat was included in the rules for the 1880 tournament .

literature

• H. Gillmeister: cultural history of tennis. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-7705-2618-X .
• J. Parsons, H. Wancke: The Tennis Book. Carlton Books, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-78097-012-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Gillmeister (1990), p. 244 f.
2. ^ Heathcote, J. et al .: Tennis. Lawn tennis. Racquets. Fives. Longmans, Green & Co., London 1901, pp. 145 f. ( online )
3. ↑ Parsons (2010), p. 13
4. ↑ Gillmeister (1990), p. 247
5. ^ Heathcote, p. 147
6. ^ Heathcote, p. 148