Oldest Wimbledon singles champion (male)

Arthur Gore (UK, b. 2 January 1868) was 41 years 182 days old when he defeated Major Ritchie 6-8, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 at The Wimbledon Championships in London, UK, on 3 July 1909. It was Gore’s third Wimbledon crown, after previously lifting the trophy in 1901 and 1908.

Roger Federer (b. 8 August 1981) is the oldest Wimbledon men’s singles champion of the open era (since 1968). He was 35 years 342 days old when he beat Marin Čilić 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 for his eighth and final title at SW19 on 16 July 2017.

Between 1888 and 1922, Gore entered the men’s singles at Wimbledon 31 times – although he suffered a second-round walkover loss in 1895, following a first-round bye, and never set foot on court.

Gore reached eight Wimbledon finals (1899-1912) – a total bettered only by Roger Federer (12) and Novak Djokovic (10), and matched by another early British great, William Renshaw, in 1881-90.

Gore also entered the Wimbledon doubles competition 30 times, non-consecutively, between 1888 and 1927 (absent 1890-91, 1895, 1902, 1920 and 1923; tournament not held in 1915-18 due to World War I). He therefore entered 61 singles and doubles tournaments at Wimbledon in 1888-1927.

On 8 July 1912, Gore became the oldest Wimbledon singles finalist, aged 44 years 188 days. New Zealand’s Anthony Wilding (Wimbledon’s second-ever non-British champion after Australia’s Norman Brookes in 1907) beat Gore 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to deny the British player a fourth Wimbledon crown – exactly as he’d done in 1910, at the start of Wilding’s sequence of four consecutive titles.