Women's Singles Championship was held at The All England Lawn Tennis Club for the first time in the year 1884. England's Maud Watson was the first Women's Singles Wimbledon Champion. In 144 years, we had champions representing 10 countries with women from United States of America winning the title 57 times.
Mary Sutton of United States of America was the first non-British woman to have won the title. Martina Navratilova has won a record 9 Singles titles at Wimbledon. We take a look at 5 of the oldest women to have lifted the Wimbledon Championship trophy:
#5 Helen Wills Moody
Helen Wills Moody dominated tennis in the 1920s and 1930s. Helen Moody won a total of 19 Grand Slam Singles titles, 12 Grand Slam Doubles trophies and 2 Olympic Gold Medals in both Singles and Doubles at the Olympic Games 1924.
She won Wimbledon Women's Singles trophy 8 times including 4 consecutive times between 1927 and 1930. She won the 1938 Wimbledon Championships at the age of 33 years and 268 days.
#4 Serena Williams
Serena Williams has revolutionized the Women's game with her power-laden shot making and this has made her well and truly the game's most dominant player ever. Serena has won 23 Grand Slam Singles titles till date - the most by any player in the Open Era and remains the only Woman to win Singles Grand Slam titles in 3 different decades.
Since winning her first Wimbledon in 2002 at the age of 20, Serena has added 6 more titles to her collection. Her latest win came in 2016 where she beat Garbine Muguruza in the final. Serena was 34 years 287 days old when she won her 7th Wimbledon title.
#3 Dorothea Lambert Chambers
British woman Dorothea Lambert Chambers was not only a decorated tennis player but she successfully won titles in Badminton too. She was a 2-time runner-up at the All England Badminton Championships.
Chambers won Wimbledon 7 times (1903, 1904, 1906, 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914). She was also the Gold medalist in Singles at the 1908 Olympic Games. She won her 7th Wimbledon title at the age of 35 years and 305 days
#2 Blanche Bingley Hillyard
English tennis player Blanche Bingley Hillyard holds the all-time record of most Wimbledon Singles Finals appearances at 13. She triumphed on 6 occasions and was runner-up a record 7 times.
She won the Wimbledon title in the years 1886, 1889, 1894, 1897, 1899 and 1900. She continued to compete at Wimbledon till she was 49 years old making her one of the oldest Singles competitors. Her last title at Wimbledon came at the age of 36 years 242 days.
#1 Charlotte Cooper Sterry
One of the few women who used to serve overhead in those days, British woman Charlotte Cooper Sterry displayed elegance at the net with her volleying skills at a time when it was a rarity in women's tennis.
Charlotte was a 5-time Wimbledon Singles Champion and the first ever Woman Gold medalist at the Olympic Games. She achieved this when she won the 1900 Olympic Games Women's Singles Gold.
She won the Wimbledon Singles titles in the years 1895, 1896, 1898, 1901 and 1908. After her 4th triumph, she took a break from tennis. The comeback mom of two entered the 1908 Wimbledon Championships and to the surprise of many won the title at the age of 37 years and 282 days.
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