Arthur William Charles Wentworth Gore (2 January 1868 – 1 December 1928) was a British tennis player. He is best known for winning three singles titles at the Wimbledon Championship and was runner-up a record 5 times (shared with Herbert Lawford). He also won gold medals at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, England, winning the Men's Indoor Singles and the Men's Indoor Doubles (with Herbert Barrett). He also competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. Gore's Wimbledon win in 1909, at age 41, makes him the oldest player to date to hold the Wimbledon Gentlemen's Singles title.

Early life

Gore was born in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, and grew up in France, the third son of Captain Augustus Frederick Wentworth Gore and Hon. Emily Anne Curzon. His father was the sole surviving son of noted novelist Catherine Gore and Charles Arthur Gore. His mother was a member of the Curzon family, the daughter of MP Robert Curzon and granddaughter of Viscount Curzon.

Career

He played his first tournament at London Athletic Club in 1887, and his first title came at a grass court tournament in Stevenage in August 1888. Gore won the singles title at the Scottish Championships in 1892 and successfully defended the title in the Challenge Round in 1893. In 1894 he won the North London Championships on grass, a tournament that he won five times (1894, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1906). He won the singles title at the Kent Championships on two occasions; in 1900 by defeating Harold Mahony in the final in straight sets, and in 1906 against A.L. Bentley, also in straight sets. In 1900 and 1908 he won the singles title at the British Covered Court Championships, played at the Queen's Club in London. In May 1908 he won the singles title at the British Covered Court Championships, played at the Queen's Club in London, defeating New Zealander Anthony Wilding in the Challenge Round in four sets. Gore had the longest ever span (34 years) in the Wimbledon men's singles (he entered a record 30 times in singles from 1888 to 1922)., In addition he also won the Leicestershire Championships three times (1913, 1914, 1919) and the Nottinghamshire Championships four times (1905, 1910, 1912, 1913). He also holds the all-time record for the longest tennis career of any player between their first and last titles, that being 30 years, 11 months and one day. Gore was a successful all surface player winning 51 singles titles and reaching the finals of 26 other tournaments on clay, grass and hard asphalt & wood courts from 1888 to 1919. Gore was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Performance timeline

Events with a challenge round: (WC) won; (CR) lost the challenge round; (FA) all comers' finalist

Career finals

Singles 77 (51 titles, 26 runner-ups)