Wimbledon always has been the tournament to win for all the professional tennis players, whether they are male or female. Wimbledon has a long history of male tennis as well as female tennis. Wimbledon has produced both male and female legends in almost equal numbers. Just like in men’s tennis in female tennis too, there are few players who excel only in Wimbledon and not anywhere else. Here is a look at some of the best of the best ladies players at the All England Tennis Club.
Greatest Wimbledon Female Players:
Helen Wills Moody (USA)
Wimbledon Record:
Singles Champion: 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1938
Doubles Champion: 1924, 1927, 1930
Mixed Doubles Champion: 1929
Helen Wills Moody was the pre-war period female tennis player from the United States. She was an absolute magic on the tennis called and often called, well and truly, the invincible! During 1927 to 1932, Helen Wills Moody had not even lost a single set forget losing a game at the Wimbledon. After retirement, she also made a great career in writing and painting.
Suzanne Lenglen (France)
Wimbledon Record:
Singles Champion: 1919, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925
Doubles Champion: 1919. 1920. 1921. 1922. 1923. 1925
Mixed Doubles Champion: 1920, 1922, 1925
Just like Moody, Suzzane Lenglen too is one of the pre-war era female tennis players. She was often called as the ‘goddess of tennis’ by the tennis fans. The real reason for Suzzane to start playing tennis was to combat her illness and from there she emerged as the sports or tennis goddess. She was known for her style and fashion as well. Along with Wimbledon, Suzzanne Lengen had won 31 Grand Slams in total.
Margaret Court (Australia)
Wimbledon Record:
Singles Champion: 1963, 1965, 1970
Singles Runner-up: 1964, 1971
Doubles Champion: 1964, 1969
Doubles Runner-up: 1961. 1963, 1966, 1971
Mixed Doubles Champion: 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1975
Mixed Doubles Runner-up: 1964, 1971
One of the legends of women’s tennis over all and of course at Wimbledon as well, Margaret Court still leads the count of title wins even after these many years. She is a winner of 64 Grand Slam tournaments which includes 24 Singles, 19 doubles and 19 mixed doubles!
Chris Evert Lloyd (United States)
Wimbledon Record:
Singles Champion: 1974, 1976, 1981
Singles Runner-up: 1973, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985
Doubles Champion: 1976
Although with her winning percentage may look far lesser than the other legendary female players included in the list, but Chris Evert Lloyd was certainly a force at Wimbledon as you can see her runner-up statistics. Mind you, there are many ‘tennis lovers’ who used to go to Wimbledon just to watch this beautiful tennis player playing.
Billie Jean King (United States)
Wimbledon Record:
Singles Champion: 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1975
Singles Runners-up: 1963, 1969, 1970
Doubles Champion: 1961, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1979
Doubles Runner-up: 1964, 1976
Mixed Doubles Champion: 1967, 1971, 1973, 1974
Mixed Doubles Runner-up: 1966, 1978, 1983
Bille Jean King was a legend of tennis in a true sense. She was one of the most dynamic players who has ever played the game of tennis for sure. She was aggressive, hard hitter and could rush to the net within a blink of an eye. She had worked for women’s tennis and fought for getting equal rights for them as well and in the process, she also had beaten Bobby Riggs a former Wimbledon champion in a three straight sets.
Martina Navratilova
Wimbledon Record:
Singles Champion: 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990
Singles Runner-up: 1988, 1989, 1994
Doubles Champion: 1976, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986
Doubles Runner-up: 1977, 1985
Mixed Doubles Champion: 1985, 1993, 1995, 2003
Mixed Doubles Runner-up: 1986
This list would remain unfinished if we don’t include Martina Navratilova in it. She was a Czech by birth, but settled in USA. Since she was 16 she started ruling the international tennis arena and it remained like that for the next three decades. She was a real force to beat at the Wimbledon. Her duals with Chris Evert, Gabriela Sabatini and later with Steffi Graf were things to enjoy to say the lest. She was so passionate about the game that she kept on playing it as a professional even in her 40s and even won a mixed doubles title in the 2003 Wimbledon with India’s Leander Paes.
Steffi Graf (Germany)
Wimbledon Record:
Singles Champion: 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996
Singles Runner-up: 1987, 1999
Doubles Champion: 1988
One of the best players of grass-court you will ever see is, without doubt, Steffi Graf. She started her tennis career at the age of 17 and she had an excellent one as well. Steffi has also a unique record to her name which is to complete a ‘Golden Grand Slam’ by winning all four Grand Slams of 1988 along with an Olympic Gold Medal at the Seoul Olympics. Whenever there is a talk about legendary female tennis players, both in and out of Wimbledon, Steffi Graf would certainly feature in that list.
