History - 1970s - The Championships, Wimbledon 2017 - Official Site by IBM READ MORE 1970: Margaret Court v Billie Jean King: Margaret Court and Billie Jean King contested one of the great Wimbledon finals in 1970. As veteran commentator John Barrett has said, "It produced one of the most dramatic finals ever seen at Wimbledon." The fact it was televised in colour rather than black and white added to the spectacle while also underlining the changing times of a sport that only two years earlier had turned professional. 1970: John Newcombe v Ken Rosewall: John Newcombe defeated his Australian countryman Ken Rosewall and a partisan crowd 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to win the men’s singles for a second time. From the start the elegant Rosewall, the underdog, had the Centre Court crowd behind for everyone hoped that this, his third appearance in a final, would be his year having previously been the gallant runner-up in 1954 and 1956.

The 16-year gap set a record-breaking span between his first and this year’s final, one that was so appreciated by the crowd that it led Newcombe to ask ‘why do they hate me?’ With a nine-year age gap between the two, it was always going to be difficult for the 35-year-old Rosewall to outlast the younger former champion and his play proved patchy as Newcombe exploited his weaknesses with his power and guile to level and take a two-sets-to-one lead. Rosewall recovered in the fourth, helped by Newcombe’s brief loss of concentration and the clear favouritism being shown to the older player, but regained his composure to inflict a quick coup de grace over his tiring compatriot in the fifth. 1971: Evonne Goolagong v Margaret Court: The highlight of the Ladies’ singles was the final clash between Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong, an all-Australian encounter, which will be perceived as the end of one era and the start of another.

Goolagong, at 19, had captured the tennis world’s hearts on her second appearance at The Championships with her breezy, easy-going style and sunny smile, which contrasted greatly with the quiet and dignified defending champion Court. While the Aussie teenager arrived in the final having taken out the previous year’s runner-up, Billie Jean King, in three sets, no one expected her to also get the better of the big-hitting defending champion. The die was cast from the opening exchanges as Court surprisingly, showed more nerves than her challenger who immediately raced to a 4-0 lead with ultimate ease. However, Court drew on her experience and clawed her way back to 3-4 but in the eighth game, with Goolagong 15-40 down, she was unable to capitalise and level as the teenager struck three searing winners to completely deflate the champion. Goolagong showed no anxiety in her free-flowing shots to claim six successive games and take the title 6-4 6-1 to become only the fourth teenager to win the women’s singles since the war.

1971: Ken Rosewall: Classic or epic matches are measured by the numbers watching a struggle to the death and the Ken Rosewall v Cliff Ritchie clash at the quarter-final stage of the 1971 Championships falls firmly into that category. Australia’s Rosewall and Ritchie of the US battled it out for 3hrs 59mins before Rosewall captured the semi-final place at stake, 6-8, 5-7, 6-4, 9-7, 7-5, recovering from two sets down and trailing 2-4 and 0-30 in the third. As the scoreline suggests, Richie the hustler from America, had the match well in hand but failed to maintain his supremacy as Rosewall’s doggedness started to pay dividends. From a near hopeless position, Rosewall levelled and went on to score an excellent victory with one of his trademark backhands, passing an attacking Ritchie attempting to stave off a fifth match point. While the victory was popular, the crowd rose in appreciation to acclaim both protagonists’ efforts.

1972: Stan Smith v Ilie Nastase Rain, the first of the fortnight, washed out Saturday play and for the first time in the history of The Championships, the men’s final was played out on the Sunday to the dismay of traditionalists. Stan Smith, the tall upright American and top seed, faced the crowd’s favourite, Ilie Nastase, the Romanian court jester seeded second, and between them, they entertained the crowd with a classic final. Having made his last racket change in the fourth game of the fourth set, Nastase became hyper matching Smith stroke for stroke from the back of the court, dominating the net and showing remarkable determination to level the match. In the decider both players defended stoutly to prevent their opponent to capitalise on their chances but in the 12th game, Smith forced his challenger to net a high backhand volley and concede the final after 164 minutes, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 on his fourth match point in what proved to be the closest final since 1933 when Jack Crawford (Aus) beat the title-holder Ellsworth Vines (USA).

1973: The Strike In Britain strikes had always been industrial disputes - until 1973, that is, when most of the men's field at Wimbledon withdrew their labour in the most sensational move in the history of The Championships. As with most disputes, it concerned who was top dog. And in this respect Wimbledon was caught in the middle of a confrontation between the then International Lawn Tennis Federation (now ITF) and the newly-formed players "union", the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). There had already been some flexing of muscles over who ran what, and further turmoil broke out over the Yugoslav number one, Nikki Pilic. He was suspended by his national association, who alleged he had refused to play in a Davis Cup tie. The suspension, supported by the ILTF, meant that Pilic would not be permitted to play at Wimbledon. Ultimately 79 players, including 13 of the original 16 seeds, withdrew. The final was an anti-climax as Czech Jan Kodes, already twice a winner of the French Open, swept aside Alex Metreveli, the first Russian to reach a Wimbledon Gentlemen's final, 6-1, 9-8, 6-3.

The drama was over. And so was the strike. 1974: Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert There were two factors in particular which were unique about the 1974 Championships. The titles were won by an engaged couple, Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert, both of the United States, and in playing terms they attracted particular attention because both were double-fisted on the backhand side. In the end, the opponent Connors had to worry about was the 39-year-old Australian, Ken Rosewall, who stunned the field and captivated the crowd by reaching the final for the fourth time - and 20 years after his first appearance in the final. There was little doubt that the sentiments of the crowd at the final swung towards Rosewall who, clearly, had earned his last chance of winning the title. But Connors raced through to title 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 against an opponent who was obviously tired after the rigours of the previous two rounds. Chris Evert had already been a semi-finalist at her first Wimbledon in 1972, losing to Evonne Goolagong and a finalist in 1973, losing to Billie Jean King.

She was due to play them in sequence in 1974 but both were beaten in earlier matches. Evert had never lost to Russian Olga Morozova so went into the final full of confidence. She won the title for the first time with victory by 6-0, 6-4. The bookmakers had quoted odds of 33-1 on a "love double" for the engaged couple. In the end, Connors and Evert did not marry. 1975: Arthur Ashe wins Wimbledon The 1975 Gentlemen's final pitted the brash, abrasive and sometimes uncouth defending champion and No.1 seed, Jimmy Connors, against Arthur Ashe, seeded sixth and tennis's ultimate gentleman. It proved to be one of Wimbledon's greatest finals. Ashe hooked his serve wide to the two-handed backhand of his left-handed opponent and he took pace off his pounding, often error-producing ground-strokes. More importantly, Ashe exploited Connors' weakness - the low forehand. Time and again he caressed a shot that forced Connors to dig a reply out of the turf.

Ashe did not just create the game plan, he stuck to it superbly, winning the first two sets 6-1, 6-1. Connors, a player renowned for his never-say-die attitude was not prepared to give his title up easily and took the third set, 7-5. The fourth set found Connors with an early break-up 3-0 before Ashe won six of the next seven games to take the final set 6-4 and become the first black male to win the Gentlemen's Singles Championship at Wimbledon. 1976: Bjorn Borg v Ilie Nastase: At 20 years and 17 days, Bjorn Borg, became the third youngest men’s singles champion and the youngest since 1931 in what was also the first all-European final since 1936 when Fred Perry beat Gottfried von Cramm. Despite nursing a slight stomach muscle strain, Borg, the fourth seed, required just 1hr and 50mins to dispatch Ilie Nastase 6-4 6-2 9-7 in what was a one-sided contest on a sultry day in SW19.

The ever popular Nastase, the third seed and title favourite, arrived in the final having brushed aside all opposition without the loss of a set only to run into a player on the verge of making tennis history. Borg’s ferociously struck top-spin forehands successfully blunted Nastase’s attacking game, as did the Swede’s speed about the court and his defensive play, which left few opportunities for the 29-year-old to prevent defeat in the final for a second time in five years. Having saved a match point in the 10th game, Nastase took a 6-5 lead only to be frustrated yet again by some weak play on his part, thus allowing Borg to raise the golden trophy for the first time in his blossoming career. 1976: The rise of Chris Evert: Fittingly the 1976 Women’s Singles final saw the year’s best two players facing each other, namely from America, the determined, technically sound and gifted Chris Evert against Australia’s athletic, naturally talented and graceful stroke player, Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

In what had been a scorching fortnight, the favourite for the crown was the popular Cawley but on the day the greater determination of the ice-maiden Evert proved too much for the more laidback approach of the Australian. From the beginning Evert looked to have the edge but with the final level at a set-all and Cawley leading 2-0, the pendulum looked to have swung her way, but Evert broke back and slowly regained the initiative by breaking up her opponent’s game and coming to the net, much to Cawley’s surprise. The accuracy of her passing shots also took their toll and after just over two hours of competitive play, the American claimed her second Wimbledon singles crown, 6-3, 4-6, 8-6, leaving the Australian to rue missed opportunities and accept the runners-up spot for a second consecutive year.

1977: Virginia Wade: Although Virginia Wade had won the US Open in 1968, the Australian Open in 1972 and was twice a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 1974 and 1976, the consensus was that she was past her peak and at 31, far older than exciting new talents such as America's Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova (then of Czechoslavakia, later USA) and Britain's Sue Barker. However, Wade's victory couldn't have been scripted any better. Wade was a British player winning the Ladies' Championship in Wimbledon's centenary year, in front of the Queen during her Silver Jubilee year in 1977. As Wade stood alongside the Queen, clutching the Venus Rosewater Dish she was at the epicentre of one of Britain's greatest sporting moments. Wade later said: "The atmosphere was phenomenal. I've never experienced anything like that in England other than football's 1966 World Cup. The place went absolutely crazy. It was a cauldron of excitement and celebration. It was humbling in a way.

You immersed yourself in it and then you realised the reason for it was because you'd won. I had become a part of a major celebration." Although her final victory against Betty Stove (Netherlands) 4-6 6-3 6-1 ensured Wade the coveted crown, she picked out her semi-final win over defending champion Chris Evert as the high point of that Championships. 1977: The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum: Over the years Wimbledon has been good at marking occasions and there was no better way to celebrate 100 years of tennis than opening a Museum on its grounds during the Club’s Centenary celebrations. The Wimbledon Museum and its associated Lord Ritchie Library, was officially opened on 20th May, 1977 by HRH, The Duke of Kent, and over the years, has become a major London tourist attraction in its own right. From the outset, the Wimbledon Museum was determined to cover all aspects of tennis from its origins, through all the developments to the present day and as far as possible, the future. In addition, special exhibitions highlighting specific areas like ‘tennis fashion through the ages’, were organised to provide additional visitor attractions.

The Museum, originally situated above the old debenture holders restaurant, was designed by Robin Wade and provided a stark contrast to the fustian image of other ‘museums’ to quickly become a must visit for tennis enthusiasts. 1977: Bjorn Borg v Vitas Gerulaitis: Once in a while a tennis match will reach its climax with both players utterly convinced they are going to win until the last stroke of the rally. Such was the case when Bjorn Borg met Vitas Gerulaitis in the Wimbledon semi-finals in 1977. The pair, great friends, practice partners, both possessing blond flowing locks, although Gerulaitis didn't have the beard, sparred over five thrilling sets as Gerulaitis twice came back from a set down. Missing a match point as he scuppered a simple backhand down the line, he eventually went down 6-8 in the fifth set in the Centre Court twilight. "I'm surprised I had it in me to play that well, and I'm completely choked I lost," Gerulaitis said afterwards. Borg went on to win the match and claim the second of his five Wimbledon titles against Jimmy Connors in the final.

1977: Bjorn Borg v Jimmy Connors: The Bjorn Borg-Jimmy Connors final in the Centenary Year of The Championships provided a more than suitable climax to what had been a somewhat controversial start to the celebrations. That final saw the two champions remorselessly battling it out, on fast grass, from the back of the court in what in hindsight, could be deemed the start of the baseline era. It was the first time these two great champions had met on grass with Borg pulling ahead to lead two sets to one by deploying less spin, hitting flatter deliveries and mixing in a series of nothing balls. But the Viking’s iron concentration wavered and the American came storming back to force a decider. Crucially, Connors raised his own game to draw level at 4-all in the fifth set but a double fault at 15-love, only his second of the match, proved pivotal for he then failed to win another point as a weary Borg closed the match out 3-6 6-2 6-1 5-7 6-4 after three hours and 14 minutes of gruelling play.

1977: John McEnroe v Jimmy Connors: John McEnroe has often said that he did not choose tennis as his pursuit. Tennis found him. And that moment, when he shot on to the scene as a pale, unathletic looking 18-year-old in Wimbledon 1977, was the turning point. Runner-up at the 18&U national junior championships, and ranked No.270 in the world, he earned the chance to play the Wimbledon qualifying tournament. Two weeks later, he found himself in the semi-finals against Jimmy Connors. Aged 18 years and four months, McEnroe became the youngest semi-finalist in 100 years of The Championships when he defeated Phil Dent in the quarter-finals, simultaneously becoming the first qualifier to reach the semi-finals. Luring Connors into errors by varying the pace of the game, McEnroe unleashed a series of backhands to take the third set, and dent the world No.1's pride. The turning point of the match came in the seventh game of the fourth set, McEnroe fending off two break points before Connors finally broke and served out the match.

The life of John McEnroe would never be the same again. 1980: Chris Evert v Martina Navratilova All along, the talk of Wimbledon 1978 had been about defending champion Martina Navratilova and Tracy Austin, the top two seeds. But Chris Evert, or Chris Evert-Lloyd as she was then, floated through the draw free from the Centre Court scrutiny that can sometimes make winning a major tennis title so agonising. When she met her erstwhile rival Navratilova, in the semi-finals, the latter seemed more frustrated than tired. Not even the traditional spit-kiss on each cheek that her mother, Jana, had given her before each match during the last two years, a Czech good-luck custom, could keep her volleys in the court. Alongside the 37 other matches that the two stars of the game had contested, it was not a well-played match. Even Navratilova's mother told her in the locker-room, "you played bad".

But to Evert's credit, she fought her way into the match, eventually triumphing 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a reverse of their two previous Wimbledon encounters, both in the final. 1979: Billie Jean King wins 20th title Immediately after Bjorn Borg won a record fourth successive men's title at Wimbledon, Billie Jean King grabbed the Centre Court spotlight by becoming the most prolific Wimbledon winner. The 35-year-old partnered singles champion Martina Navratilova to win the women's doubles final 5-7 6-3, 6-2 against Australia's Wendy Turnbull and Holland's Betty Stove. It gave King the 20th title she had been chasing for four years. Since winning the singles title for the sixth time in 1975, the American had shared the record of 19 titles with Elizabeth Ryan, who, in a bizarre twist of fate, died 24 hours before King surpassed her in the record books. "It seemed she didn't want to see her record broken," King said. "Although she told me that if anyone was going to break it, she hoped it would be me.

Right from my early days, Elizabeth was always around watching the juniors and one felt her presence." King's 20 Championships are made up of six singles titles, 10 doubles titles and four mixed doubles titles. BBC SPORT | Tennis | Wimbledon History | Wimbledon legends: Chris Evert Wimbledon legends: Chris Evert Wimbledon titles: 1974, 1976, 1981 Runner up: 1973, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985 Grand Slam titles: 18 Prize money: $8,896,195 Mild-mannered Chris Evert was always the darling of the Centre Court. But the American's game was more suited to the slow high-bouncing clay courts of Roland Garros, where she won the French Open seven times. Despite this, her game had enough class to excel on all surfaces; she won at least one Grand Slam singles title in every year from 1974 to 1986.

At Wimbledon she was often overshadowed by Martina Navratilova, but still won three titles in 1974, 1976 and 1981. She was number one in the world from 1975 to 1982 and never lower than fourth until her retirement in 1989. Her double-handed backhand is one of the legendary shots of tennis, and when she and her then fiance Jimmy Connors both won Wimbledon with the shot in 1974, it set a fashion that became a trend around the world. Her greatest rivalry came with Navratilova, a woman who was different to Evert in almost every way, but the pair remain friends. There is no doubt Evert would have won many more Grand Slams had it not been for Navratilova. They played 80 times. Evert won 11 of the first 12, but Navratilova eventually overtook her and finished with a record of 43-37. They met in the Wimbledon final five times, Navratilova winning all of them. Evert finally got her revenge in the French Open final in 1985.

Navratilova had won all of their previous 13 matches, but this time Evert came through 6-3, 6-7, 7-5. She said: "It was then I conquered the mental and psychological problems which I'd been having while playing her and also because it was such a see-saw match." In total Evert played 10 Wimbledon finals. She lost her first to Billie-Jean King in 1973 before winning the following year against Olga Morozova. In 1976 she beat Evonne Cawley, who she lost to in 1980 before lifting the Rosewater Dish for the third time a year later after getting the better of Hana Mandlikova. Summing up her career, she added: "I always played to win. Losing hurt me. I was always determined to be the best." 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

Question: Who was the defending champion when Chris Evert first won Wimbledon singles?
Answer: Billie Jean King