Wimbledon Champions: Women's top 25 - Telegraph
Wimbledon Champions: Women's top 25
9:41AM BST 28 Jun 2008
Former champion Bjorn Borg reveals his top 25 women while Mark Hodgkinson and Kaz Mochlinski profile the players.
Louise Brough
1948-1950, 1955
No player has ever dominated Wimbledon more completely than did Brough in the three Championships between 1948 and 1950. Not only did she collect three of her four singles titles in that time, but she reached the final of every event, winning eight out of nine. The only final she lost was the mixed doubles in the middle year, when she played 117 games in three finals that involved five hours 20 minutes' playing time on Centre Court on the final Saturday of the tournament. Her hard volleying was ideally suited to the Wimbledon grass courts, which she again demonstrated in adding a last singles victory in 1955. It was her 13th title in total at the All England Club and she did not drop a set in winning it. With Margaret du Pont, she also collected a remarkable 12 women's doubles successes in the US Championships.
Maria Bueno
1959-1960, 1964
The lithe and elegant Brazilian brought sex appeal to the Wimbledon lawns, improving the SW19 libido. All the men in the Centre Court crowd fell in love with Bueno after she won her first Wimbledon title in 1959, after which she was given a prize of a clothes voucher and then flown back in a presidential jet to a ticker-tape parade in Sao Paolo. In future years she titillated Wimbledon by wearing a white dress with a pink lining, and also won two more titles, in 1960 and 1964.
Maureen Connolly
1952-1954
Her first love was horse riding, but Maureen Connolly's mother could not afford the lessons and she turned to tennis. 'Little Mo' snaffled a hat-trick of Wimbledon titles, from 1952-54, and was a popular figure back home in the United States. But that did not stop her from speaking of "the dark destiny" of her tennis career. "I always believed greatness on a tennis court was my destiny, a dark destiny at times, where the court became my secret jungle and I, a lonely, fear-stricken hunter. I was a strange little girl armed with hate, fear and a golden racket," Connolly once said.
Margaret Court
1963, 1965, 1970
'Big Marge' dominated the tour in the 1960s and 1970s, winning her first two Wimbledon titles, as Margaret Smith, in 1963 and 1965. She quit the circuit in 1966 to marry and start a family, but returned to the game as Margaret Court, and in 1970 won all four majors to achieve the grand slam. On the Wimbledon leg of that feat, Court and the American Billie Jean King contested what was one of the greatest finals in the tournament's history, with the Australian eventually closing out a 14-12, 11-9 victory. In addition to her three Wimbledon trophies, Court won a further 21 grand slam singles titles, taking her singles tally to 24, and many consider her to be the greatest female player to have ever stepped on Centre Court.
Lindsay Davenport
1999
American Lindsay Davenport may have won Wimbledon as well as the US and Australian Opens , plus an Olympic gold medal, in an illustrious career. But her greatest achievement is perhaps showing that it is still possible to succeed in modern tennis as a mother. After giving birth to a baby son 12 months ago, she returned to win two of her three tournaments before the end of the year and has continued to notch up further victories in 2008. She made her breakthrough by winning the women's singles at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, but she secured full recognition as one of the best players of her generation only when she clinched the Wimbledon title in 1999. In an emotional final Davenport overcame Steffi Graf, who was playing her last major match. To underline her dominance that year, the American added the women's doubles with her compatriot, Corina Morariu, too.
Chris Evert
1974, 1976, 1981
Known as the 'Ice Maiden' for having icicles in her veins on court, the American won her first Wimbledon title in 1974. That same year, her fiancé, Jimmy Connors, won the men's crown and the two of them danced together at the Champions' Ball. Their romance became known as the 'Love Match'. But they broke off the engagement later that year so there was no fairytale ending. However, she did go on to win two more Venus Rosewater Dishes, with triumphs in 1976 and 1981, and also married and then divorced John Lloyd, the British tennis player.
Borg on Evert
Chris could play on every surface, but she was particularly comfortable on the Wimbledon grass. She knew exactly which shot to play. Everyone called me 'Ice Borg' or the 'Ice Man', but she was the 'Ice Maiden' of the women's game. She was a great champion
Althea Gibson
1957-1958
The African-American Althea Gibson is one of the most important figures in Wimbledon's history as she was the first black player, male or female, to win a title on the grass of SW19. Born in North Carolina and raised in Harlem, she had it tough during her tennis education as she was barred from whites-only clubs and competitions. However, Gibson persevered with her tennis and secured her first Wimbledon title in 1957 and then backed it up by winning again the next year. She lived in poverty for much of her old age before dying in 2003. Venus and Serena Williams know that they owe much to Gibson.
Evonne Goolagong
1971, 1980
She was the daughter of a sheep shearer and the family lived in a tin shack in New South Wales. Yet that didn't stop Evonne Goolagong, an Australian of Aboriginal descent, following her dream of playing tennis. Her early career was funded by the Aboriginal community. "The town only had a population of 700, but they used to provide everything for me, including clothes, shoes and rackets," said Goolagong. She won her first Wimbledon title in 1971, beating Margaret Court, and a second in 1980, beating Chris Evert.
Steffi Graf
1988-1989, 1991-1993, 1995-1996
Steffi Graf was to win a total of seven Wimbledon singles titles up to 1996, but none would surpass her first. In 1988 she dethroned Martina Navratilova at the All England Club on the way to collecting all four major championships in a calendar year. And she then added a victory at the Seoul Olympics to produce a unique Golden grand slam. An added bonus that year was her success in the Wimbledon doubles with Gabriela Sabatini, of Argentina, for her only major title in that version of the game. In 1989 the then German supremacy in tennis was underlined with Wimbledon wins for both Graf and Boris Becker. Graf went on to collect a remarkable 22 grand slam singles crowns before marrying Andre Agassi in a rare match-up of Wimbledon champions.
Borg on Graf
It's difficult to compare one generation to another, but there is no question that Steffi was one of the greats. She worked extremely hard on her tennis, she had that brilliant forehand, and I remember watching a lot of her matches at Wimbledon. I can't think of one weakness in Steffi's game
Blanche Bingley Hillyard
1886, 1889, 1894, 1897, 1899-1900
First as Blanche Bingley and then as Mrs Hillyard, she became the first multiple champion of women's tennis. Her severe looks concealed a friendly and sporting nature, but she was nevertheless a ferocious competitor and claimed six Wimbledon titles from 1886 to 1900. Usually photographed wearing a tie as part of her formal tennis kit, she became well known at the time as an indefatigable player.
Martina Hingis
1997
The 'Little Swiss Miss' was just 16??years old when she beat Jana Novotna in the 1997 Wimbledon final and so became the youngest champion of the professional era. Martina Hingis displayed an excellent tennis brain; she played with an exceptionally high IQ, Mensa stuff off the strings. But 10 years on she tested positive for cocaine after a third-round defeat and was banned from the game. In the space of a decade Hingis had gone from a sweet-16 prodigy to a scandal-hit veteran.
Ann Jones
1969
The delight that greeted Ann Jones's triumph in 1969 was not just down to it being a home victory. As well as the Birmingham player's popularity, her success was all the sweeter for being unexpected. She was past her 30th birthday and competing at her 14th??Wimbledon. Having got through to the semi-finals, she put out the top seed, Margaret Court, before beating defending champion, Billie Jean King, in the final.
Billie Jean King
1966-1968, 1972-1973, 1975
It was not just her record 20?Wimbledon titles, six of them in the singles between 1966 and 1975, that King will be remembered for. She was the foremost pioneer of women's professional tennis in the 1960s and 1970s, bringing a new athleticism to the female game and campaigning for fair rewards in return. To which end she played in the infamous 'Battle of the Sexes' in Houston, Texas, in 1973, when, as the reigning Wimbledon champion, she lost in three straight sets to Bobby Riggs, the 1939 men's victor at the All England Club. Having won the doubles on her first visit to SW19 as a teenager in 1961, she was nearly 36 years old at the time of her last success at the Championships in 1979 – partnering Martina Navratilova, who would later equal King's number of Wimbledon crowns. A less-heralded achievement was becoming the first woman to win at Wimbledon wearing glasses.
Borg on King
All the players in the current generation should thank Billie Jean, as she is the one who has done the most to put women's tennis where it is now. If it wasn't for her, the women might not have equal prize money at Wimbledon these days. She has done some great work off the court, but she was also a great player on the court, let's not forget about that. She is one of the most important figures in the history of women's tennis, if not the most important
Suzanne Lenglen
1919-1923, 1925
She was French and she was fabulous. One of the first racket-twirling divas, Suzanne Lenglen used to sip brandy during the change of ends. And – shock horror – Lenglen showed her ankles to the world, sported a short hairstyle and refused to wear a corset at Wimbledon. Polite society didn't know what had hit it when Lenglen won the Wimbledon title in 1925. The French press nicknamed her 'La Divine' (the divine one) and she did much to get the starch out of the clothes and out of tennis as whole. She won six Wimbledon titles, with an uninterrupted stretch of five crowns from 1919-23, and the last in 1925.
Alice Marble
1939
The American Alice Marble was raped by a stranger when she was 15, but she overcame the trauma of that violent attack to become a professional tennis player. Marble won her Wimbledon title in 1939, just months before the outbreak of the Second World War. She married a pilot and miscarried her husband's child after a car accident during the war and a few days later he was killed in action. She attempted suicide, but then recovered and agreed to work as a spy for American intelligence, going on a difficult mission that involved contacting a former lover, a Swiss banker. Marble was shot in the back by a Nazi agent, but rescued by American intelligence. She died in 1990 at the age of 77.
Amelie Mauresmo
2006
Before Wimbledon in 2006 Amelie Mauresmo's talent had never been in doubt, just her mental fortitude. There was a time when the Frenchwoman was known as the choker-in-chief of women's tennis, when it seemed that an hour on the psychologist's couch would have been as useful as an hour on the practice court. However, she overcame the doubt and the doubters to beat Belgium's Justine Henin and win her Wimbledon title. "I don't want people to talk about my nerves any more," she said triumphantly; winning Wimbledon had sealed her career.
Helen Wills Moody
1927-1930, 1932-1933, 1935, 1938
The American Helen Wills Moody was an introverted, shy woman to the point of being socially awkward, and on court she would show little emotion and ignore her opponent and the crowd. However, that shyness was often wrongly and unfairly seen as her being aloof and arrogant and she became known as 'Little Miss Poker Face', 'Queen Helen' and 'The Imperial Helen'. See, even back then, between the World Wars, the public wanted to see their stars emoting. Yet 'Little Miss Poker Face' went on to win eight Wimbledon titles, landing four in a row from 1927-30 and then the rest in 1932, 1933, 1935 and 1938. A serious woman and a serious champion.
Angela Mortimer
1961
The Henmania of later years was hardly a match for the patriotic fervour that surrounded Angela Mortimer's sole Wimbledon victory in 1961. There had been a wait of 24?years since Dorothy Round had provided the last triumph by a player from the host nation, but a new home-produced champion was guaranteed by the first all-British final since 1914, with Mortimer getting through to face Christine Truman. While Truman famously practised on shale courts in a local park, Mortimer was prepared by Arthur Roberts, the coach at the Palace Hotel in Torquay, which was renowned for its two covered courts. It produced a tennis player with a style that was a joy to watch, which proved enough to add a Wimbledon title to Mortimer's earlier successes in the French and Australian grand slam events.
Martina Navratilova
1978-1979, 1982-1987, 1990
There can be no disputing Martina Navratilova's supremacy at the All England Club. The joint-record holder with Billie Jean King of a total of 20 Wimbledon titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, she is unmatched in singles with nine victories. Having won the singles title in 1978 and 1979 and then another six victories in a row up to 1987 – when she defeated Germany's Steffi Graf to equal the American Helen Wills Moody's record of eight singles titles – she finally went past the record in 1990, in what was to be her final Wimbledon singles title, when she was almost 34 ??years old. Her longevity in doubles was even greater, spanning 17 years to 2003, when her victory in the mixed doubles made her, at 46 years 261 days, the oldest Wimbledon champion. It was possible only because she took physical fitness in tennis to new levels. And yet it could have been very different after her defection from Czechoslovakia to the US during the Cold War, as she initially showed such a passion for American junk food that she put on weight alarmingly. Turning that around proved to be the making of her.
Borg on Navratilova
I really admire Martina for the way she went on playing at the top for so long. Tennis was really in her heart and she kept on setting herself new goals. Her results speak for themselves. She had a game that was almost perfect for grass-court tennis. She was an aggressive player and liked to come into the net, and that is what you needed to do, to do well on Centre Court. Martina did a lot for women's tennis
Jana Novotna
1998
The Czech player, Jana Novotna, was a popular loser, but also a popular winner. In 1993, after she was defeated in the final by Germany's Steffi Graf, Novotna famously sobbed on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent, and was then denied for a second time in 1997 when losing to Martina Hingis, of Switzerland. On this second occasion there were no tears staining the royal jacket, but the duchess was moved to remark to the runner-up: "The third time will be third time lucky." A year later Novotna beat Nathalie Tauziat, of France, and the Venus Rosewater Dish was hers. But there was another quiet word from the Duchess. "I was right," the Duchess told her.
Maria Sharapova
2004
One sunny afternoon in the summer of 2004, the 17-year-old Siberian became an international superstar when beating Serena Williams in the final. With her photogenic looks, this was a victory made in marketing men's heaven and she has gone on to become the world's highest-earning sportswoman. Don't think that Maria Sharapova doesn't have a sense of her own worth. She is a businesswoman as well as an athlete.
Borg on Sharapova
It doesn't hurt to look good, and Maria looks good, but what she really cares about is winning titles. Every time she goes on the court, she gives absolutely everything. She loves to win and hates to lose. She won Wimbledon at such a young age, at 17, but she has a game that is well suited to grass. She's a great athlete, her game is well-suited to playing on grass, and you can tell that she enjoys being on Centre Court
Virginia Wade
1977
It's the cardigan that most people remember, Virginia Wade having walked on to Centre Court for the 1977 final wearing a natty pink one with a monogrammed 'VW' on the front. She peeled the pink cardy off and then went out and beat Holland's Betty Stove. It was quite a way to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee year, with the monarch in attendance that day in the Royal Box. Afterwards the crowd sang "For she's a jolly fellow", and it wasn't directed at Her Majesty, but at Wade. No British woman has won Wimbledon since and Wade is as frustrated as anyone by that. British winners are as retro as Wade's attire that day.
Maud Watson
1884-1885
Maud Watson is inevitably found in tennis books as the first in historical lists. She won Wimbledon on her debut in 1884, owing to it being the inaugural staging of the women's singles at the Championships. In doing so she was the first player to beat her sister, having to overcome her older sibling, Lillian, in the final. Maud was also the first champion, man or woman, to wear headgear, sporting a neat straw hat, something which was by no means usual on court at the time. The following year she also went on to become the first to defend the title successfully. It was a shame, then, that a trophy was not provided for the women's event until the year after the last of her two victories.
Venus and Serena Williams
2000-2001, 2005, 2007 (Venus) 2002-2003 (Serena)
Venus Williams may have a kooky off-court air, but she is the finest grass-court player of her generation. Going into the 2008 Championships, Williams had already appeared in six Wimbledon finals. She won her first title in 2000, added a second a year later, picked up a third in 2005 and then won her fourth last summer when she was hitting the ball so violently that she made Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli's wrist sting. The only two finals that she lost were to her younger sister, Serena, in 2002 and 2003.
Serena may go on court with designer handbags and outrageous earrings, but don't for a minute think that the American is anything other than ferociously competitive. Serena has won two Wimbledon titles, in 2002 and 2003, and on both occasions she had to beat her older sister Venus in the final. The sisters, both coached from an early age by their father, Richard, have won the title six??times between them, but those all-Williams finals have rarely lived up to the hype.
Borg on the Williams sisters
I've always enjoyed watching the Williams sisters play as they strike the ball so powerfully. That has often been the difference for them. And maybe they could have won more titles than they have so far, but they have been unlucky. It must have been tricky for them having to play against each other in the Wimbledon final. They are a very close family and they do everything together, so having to play each other in a grand slam final, I can't even imagine how difficult that would be for them. If I had a brother and I had to play him in the final of Wimbledon, I have no idea how I would have behaved towards him before the match, what I would have said to him. You can tell that it's a strange situation for Venus and Serena as the tennis they have produced against each other hasn't been as good as when they have played against someone else