Virginia Wade

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Virginia Wade

Country	England,  United Kingdom
Residence
Date of birth	10 July 1945 (1945-07-10) (age 64)
Place of birth	Bournemouth, Dorset, United Kingdom
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight	135 lbs. (61.2 kg)
Turned pro	1968
Retired	1986
Plays	Right-handed
Career prize money	US$1,542,278
Singles
Career record	839–329[1]
Career titles	55[1]
Highest ranking	No.2 (November 3, 1975)[citation needed]
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	W (1972)
French Open	QF (1970, 1972)
Wimbledon	W (1977)
US Open	W (1968)
Doubles
Career record	42–48[1]
Career titles	-
Highest ranking	-
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1973)
French Open	W (1973)
Wimbledon	F (1970)
US Open	W (1973, 1975)
Last updated on: 27 January 2007]].

Sarah Virginia Wade, OBE (born 10 July 1945) is an English former tennis player. She won three Grand Slam singles titles and four Grand Slam doubles titles. She won the women's singles title at Wimbledon in the tournament's centenary year on 1 July 1977, the last time a Briton has won a singles title at the tournament. Incidentally she is also the last Briton to have won a Grand Slam singles title.

Early life

Born in Bournemouth in England, Wade learned to play tennis in South Africa, where her parents moved when she was one year old. Her father was the Archdeacon of Durban.^[2] When Wade was 15, the family moved back to England and she went to Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School and Talbot Heath School.^[3][4] She went on to study mathematics and physics at the University of Sussex, graduating in 1966.^[5]

Tennis career

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Wade's tennis career spanned the end of the amateur era and the start of the open era. In 1968, she scored two notable firsts. As an amateur, she won the inaugural open tennis competition — the British Hard Court Open at Bournemouth. She turned down the US$720 first prize. Five months later, she had become a professional and captured the women's singles title at the first US Open (and prize-money of US$6,000)($36,749 in current dollar terms), defeating Billie Jean King in the final.

Wade's second Grand Slam singles title came in 1972 at the Australian Open. She defeated Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the final 6–4, 6–4.

Wade's most notable victory came at Wimbledon in 1977. It was the sixteenth year in which Wade had played at Wimbledon, and she made her first appearance in the final by beating defending champion Chris Evert in a semifinal 6–2, 4–6, 6–1. In the final, she faced Betty Stöve. Not only was 1977 the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the Wimbledon Championships, but it was also the 25th year of the reign (Silver Jubilee) of Queen Elizabeth II, and the Queen attended the championships for the first time in a quarter-century to watch the LADIES final. In the final, Wade beat Stöve in three sets to claim the title, nine days short of her 32nd birthday. Wade received the trophy from the Queen, and the Centre Court crowd burst into a chorus of "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow!" to celebrate her triumph.

Wade also won four Grand Slam women's doubles titles partnering Margaret Court – two at the US Open, one at the Australian Open, and one at the French Open.

Wade was coached by Jerry Teeguarden, father of the professional player Pam Teeguarden.

Over her career, Wade won 55 professional singles titles and amassed US$1,542,278 in career prize money. She was ranked in the world's top-10 continuously from 1967 through 1979. Her career spanned a total of 26 years. She retired from singles at the end of 1985 and from doubles at the end of 1986.

Since 1981, Wade has commented on tennis events for the BBC.^[6]

In 1982, Wade became the first woman to be elected to the Wimbledon Committee.^{[citation needed]}

In 1983, at the age of 37, she won the Italian Open women's doubles title partnered by Virginia Ruzici of Romania.

The 24 times that Wade played in the women's singles tournament at Wimbledon is an all-time record.^{[citation needed]}

In 1986, she was awarded the OBE.^[6]

In 1989, Wade was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.^[7]

Grand Slam singles finals (3)

Wins (3)

Year	Championship	Opponent in final	Score in final
1968	US Open	Billie Jean King	6–4, 6–2
1972	Australian Open	Evonne Goolagong Cawley	6–4, 6–4
1977	Wimbledon	Betty Stöve	4–6, 6–3, 6–1

Grand Slam women's doubles finals (10)

Wins (4)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
1973	Australian Open	Margaret Court	Kerry Harris Kerry Melville Reid	6–4, 6–4
1973	French Open	Margaret Court	Françoise Durr Betty Stöve	6–2, 6–3
1973	US Open	Margaret Court	Billie Jean King Rosemary Casals	3–6, 6–3, 7–5
1975	US Open (2)	Margaret Court	Billie Jean King Rosemary Casals	7–5, 2–6, 7–6

Runner-ups (6)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
1969	US Open	Margaret Court	Françoise Durr Darlene Hard	0–6, 6–3, 6–4
1970	Wimbledon	Françoise Durr	Billie Jean King Rosemary Casals	6–2, 6–3
1970	US Open (2)	Rosemary Casals	Margaret Court Judy Tegart Dalton	6–3, 6–4
1972	US Open (3)	Margaret Court	Françoise Durr Betty Stöve	6–3, 1–6, 6–3
1976	US Open (4)	Olga Morozova	Delina Boshoff Ilana Kloss	6–1, 6–4
1979	French Open	Françoise Durr	Betty Stove Wendy Turnbull	3–6, 7–5, 6–4

Singles titles (55)

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Bold indicates a Grand Slam title

• 1968 - US Open, Bloemfontein, Bournemouth, East London, Dewar Cup-Crystal Palace
• 1969 - Cape Town, Hoylake, Dewar-Perth, Dewar-Stalybridge, Dewar-Aberavon, Dewar-Crystal Palace, East London
• 1970 - German Indoors, West Berlin Open, Irish Open, Stalybridge, Aberavon
• 1971 - Cape Town, Catania Open, Rome, Newport-Wales, Cincinnati, Dewar-Billingham, Dewar-Aberavon, Dewar Cup Final-London, Clean Air Classic
• 1972 - Australian Open, VS Indoors-Mass., Merion, Buenos Aires
• 1973 - Dallas, Bournemouth, Dewar-Aberavon, Dewar-Edinburgh, Dewar-Billingham, Dewar Cup Final-Albert Hall
• 1974 - VS Chicago, Bournemouth, VS Phoenix, Dewar-Edinburgh, Dewar Cup-London
• 1975 - VS Dallas, VS Philadelphia, Paris Indoors, Eastbourne, Dewar Cup, Stockholm
• 1976 - U.S. Indoor Championships, Dewar Cup
• 1977 - Wimbledon, World Invitational Hilton Head, Tokyo Sillook
• 1978 - Mahwah, Tokyo Sillook, Florida Open

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

References

External links

• Virginia Wade profile on the WTA Tour's official website
• International Tennis Hall of Fame profile