Sarah Virginia Wade OBE (born 10 July 1945) is a British former professional tennis player. She won three major tennis singles championships and four major doubles championships, and is the only British woman in history to have won titles at all four majors. She was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world in singles, and No. 1 in the world in doubles.
| Full name | Sarah Virginia Wade |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  United Kingdom |
| Born | 10 July 1945 Bournemouth, England |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Turned pro | 1968 (amateur from 1962) |
| Retired | 1986 |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Prize money | $1,542,278 |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1989 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 839–329[1] |
| Career titles | 55[1] |
| Highest ranking | No. 2 (3 November 1975)[2] |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1972) |
| French Open | QF (1970, 1972) |
| Wimbledon | W (1977) |
| US Open | W (1968) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 42–48[1] |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1973) |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1973) |
| French Open | W (1973) |
| Wimbledon | F (1970) |
| US Open | W (1973, 1975) |
| Other doubles tournaments | |
| Tour Finals | W (1975) |
| Mixed doubles | |
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
| French Open | SF (1969, 1972) |
| Wimbledon | QF (1981) |
| US Open | QF (1969, 1985) |
Wade was the most recent British tennis player to win a major singles tournament until Andy Murray won the 2012 US Open, and was the most recent British woman to have won a major singles title until Emma Raducanu won the 2021 US Open. After retiring from competitive tennis, she coached for four years,[3] and has also worked as a tennis commentator and game analyst for the BBC and Eurosport, and (in the US) for CBS.
Early life
editWade was born in Bournemouth, England, UK, on 10 July 1945. Her father was the archdeacon of Durban.[4]
At one year old, Wade moved to South Africa with her parents. There, she learned how to play tennis. When she was aged 15, the family moved back to England, and she went to Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School and Talbot Heath School, Bournemouth.[5] In 1961, she was on the tennis team of Wimbledon County Girls' Grammar School. She studied mathematics and physics at the University of Sussex, graduating in 1966.[6]
Tennis career
editThis section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (November 2008) |
Wade's tennis career spanned the end of the amateur era and the start of the Open Era. In 1968, as an amateur, she won the inaugural open tennis competition – the British Hard Court Open at Bournemouth. She turned down the £300 first prize, choosing to play for expenses only.[7] Five months later, after turning professional, she won the women's singles championship at the first US Open (and prize-money of $6,000 - $52,570 today), defeating Billie Jean King in the final. Her second Major tennis singles championship came in 1972 at the Australian Open when she defeated Australian Evonne Goolagong in the final 6–4, 6–4. She was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1973 Birthday Honours for services to lawn tennis.[8]
Wade won Wimbledon in 1977. It was the 16th year in which she had played at Wimbledon, and she secured her first appearance in the final by beating the defending champion Chris Evert in the semifinal 6–2, 4–6, 6–1. In the final, she beat Betty Stöve in three sets to claim the championship, nine days before her 32nd birthday. 1977 was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Wimbledon Championships as well as the Silver Jubilee year of Elizabeth II, who attended the final for the first time since 1962.[9][10]
Wade also won four Major women's doubles championships with Margaret Smith Court – two of them at the US Open tennis tournament, one at the Australian Open, and one at the French Open. In 1983, at the age of 37, she won the Italian Open women's doubles championship with Virginia Ruzici of Romania.
Over her career, Wade won 55 professional singles championships and amassed $1,542,278 in career prize money. She was ranked in the world's top 10 continuously from 1967 to 1979. Her career spanned a total of 26 years. She retired from singles competition at the end of the 1985 tennis season, and then from doubles at the end of 1986. She played at Wimbledon on 26 occasions, an all-time record;[11] 24 of those times were in the women's singles.[12]
After tennis
editSince 1981, while she was still playing, Wade has been a reporter on tennis events for the BBC.[13] In 1982, she became the first woman to be elected to the Wimbledon Committee.[14]
Wade was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1986 Birthday Honours for services to lawn tennis.[13][15]
In 1989, Wade was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.[16]
Major finals
editGrand Slam finals
editSingles: 3 (3 titles)
edit| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1968 | US Open | Grass | Billie Jean King | 6–4, 6–2 |
| Win | 1972 | Australian Open | Grass | Evonne Goolagong | 6–4, 6–4 |
| Win | 1977 | Wimbledon | Grass | Betty Stöve | 4–6, 6–3, 6–1 |
Women's doubles: 10 (4 titles, 6 runner-ups)
edit| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1969 | US Open | Grass | Margaret Court | Françoise Dürr Darlene Hard |
6–0, 3–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 1970 | Wimbledon | Grass | Françoise Dürr | Rosie Casals Billie Jean King |
2–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1970 | US Open | Grass | Rosie Casals | Margaret Court Judy Tegart Dalton |
3–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 1972 | US Open | Grass | Margaret Court | Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve |
3–6, 6–1, 3–6 |
| Win | 1973 | Australian Open | Grass | Margaret Court | Kerry Harris Kerry Melville |
6–4, 6–4 |
| Win | 1973 | French Open | Clay | Margaret Court | Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve |
6–2, 6–3 |
| Win | 1973 | US Open | Grass | Margaret Court | Rosie Casals Billie Jean King |
2–6, 6–3, 7–5 |
| Win | 1975 | US Open | Clay | Margaret Court | Rosie Casals Billie Jean King |
7–5, 2–6, 7–6(7–5) |
| Loss | 1976 | US Open | Clay | Olga Morozova | Linky Boshoff Ilana Kloss |
1–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 1979 | French Open | Clay | Françoise Dürr | Betty Stöve Wendy Turnbull |
6–3, 5–7, 4–6 |
Year-end championships finals
editDoubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner–up)
edit| Result | Year | Location | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1975 | Los Angeles | Carpet (i) | Margaret Court | Rosie Casals Billie Jean King |
6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–2), 6–2 |
| Loss | 1977 | New York | Carpet (i) | Françoise Dürr | Martina Navratilova Betty Stöve |
5–7, 3–6 |
Singles titles (78)
edit- Bold type indicates a Major championship
- 1967 – Connaught Hard Courts
- 1968 – US Open, Bloemfontein, Bournemouth, East London, Dewar Cup London
- 1969 – Cape Town, Hoylake, Dewar Cup Perth, Dewar Cup Stalybridge, Dewar Cup Aberavon, Dewar-Crystal Palace, East London
- 1970 – German Indoors, West Berlin Open, Irish Open, Stalybridge, Aberavon
- 1971 – Cape Town, Catania International Open, Rome, Newport-Wales, Cincinnati, Dewar Cup 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 Cup 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 – US Indoor Championships, Dewar Cup
- 1977 – Wimbledon, World Invitational Hilton Head, Tokyo Sillook
- 1978 – Mahwah, Tokyo Sillook, Florida Open
(Source: WTA[17])
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
edit| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| Tournament | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | Career SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | W | QF | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 2R | 2R | 1 / 5 |
| France | A | A | A | A | A | 4R | A | 2R | QF | 1R | QF | 3R | 2R | A | A | A | A | 2R | 3R | 4R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 0 / 14 | |
| Wimbledon | 2R | 2R | 2R | 4R | 2R | QF | 1R | 3R | 4R | 4R | QF | QF | SF | QF | SF | W | SF | QF | 4R | 2R | 2R | QF | 3R | 3R | 1 / 24 | |
| United States | A | A | 4R | 2R | QF | 4R | W | SF | SF | A | QF | QF | 2R | SF | 2R | QF | 3R | QF | 3R | 3R | 1R | 2R | 2R | A | 1 / 20 | |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 1 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 1 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 1 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 3 / 63 | |
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 15 | 30 | 59 | 42 | 61 | 89 | |||||||||||||||
Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.
Personal life
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Wade has no children and has never married. She has said "If I'd done better earlier, and my career had been at its peak earlier and I'd faded, I would probably have had a totally different life." She lives mostly in New York and in Chelsea, London.[18]
She posed for sculptor David Wynne for the 17-foot-high fountain Girl with a Dolphin, installed at Tower Bridge in 1973.[19]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c "sonyericssonwtatour.com". Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
- ^ Virginia Wade at the International Tennis Federation
- ^ Lee, Veronica (27 June 2004). "Nice girls finish last". The Guardian. London.
- ^ Viner, Brian (29 June 2007). "Virginia Wade: 'We used to think there was a British winner every eight years'". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
- ^ Grasso, John (2011). Historical Dictionary of Tennis. Scarecrow Press. p. 301. ISBN 978-0-8108-7237-0.
- ^ Cheese, Caroline (24 October 2008). "Q&A: Virginia Wade". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- ^ "Rosewall hustles to £1,000 win". Daily Mirror. No. 20012. 29 April 1968. p. 23. Retrieved 2 October 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "No. 45984". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1973. p. 6489.
- ^ "Wade hopes for Jubilee repeat". BBC Sport. 9 April 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
- ^ "Queen returns to Wimbledon after 33 years". BBC News. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2017
- ^ "Wimbledon 2014: Britain's Jamie Delgado smashes record with 23rd consecutive All England Club appearance". The Telegraph. 25 June 2014. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
- ^ Wade, Virginia (2017). "Player Profile - The Championships, Wimbledon 2017 - Official Site by IBM". Official Wimbledon website. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
- ^ a b "Biographies – Virginia Wade". BBC. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
- ^ "Official Website of Virginia Wade O.B.E - Last British Women's Wimbledon Tennis Singles Champion, 1977". Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- ^ "No. 50551". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 1986. p. 11.
- ^ "International Tennis Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 4 March 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2006.
- ^ "Player profile – Virginia Wade". Women's Tennis Association (WTA).
- ^ "Virginia Wade interview: 'I prefer to live in the present'". The Guardian. 18 June 2007.
- ^ Hodgkinson, Thomas W. (5 November 2023). "The naked girl with a dolphin at Tower Bridge? That's me, says Virginia Wade". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 6 November 2023.