Emma Raducanu, Jack Draper or Katie Boulter are some of the current British tennis stars, following the footsteps of Andy Murray. However, before them, Virgina Wade was, arguably, the greatest British tennis player. Wade captured three Grand Slam singles titles and four in doubles, all during a career that stretched across the amateur and professional divide.
Born in Bournemouth in 1945 but raised in South Africa, Wade’s background wasn’t the typical path to Centre Court. Her father, a vicar disillusioned by apartheid, moved the family back to England in 1960. Wade grew up in Durban before settling in Kent as a teenager. She studied mathematics and physics at the University of Sussex, where she earned her degree before turning pro.
“I had only been playing full time for two years,” Wade told The New York Times in 2018, recalling her early days on tour. Before the Open era began in 1968, players like Wade lived out of suitcases and trained without coaches. “You’d get put up in a hotel and you’d play, and you’d practice, and you’d always be eating a baguette for lunch… that was the way it was.” That same year, just months after turning pro, she shocked the field by winning the first-ever US Open.
Wimbledon and US Open wins
Wade’s breakthrough came in 1968 at Forest Hills, where she defeated Billie Jean King to win the inaugural US Open in the Open era. “I was excited to play Billie Jean,” Wade recalled. “She really gave you a lot. But if you began to get competitive with her, she didn’t really want that.” Despite
“I was pretty sure I was going to win it,” she told The New York Times, about her feelings ahead of the final. “But also, you know, I knew that it wasn’t the end of the world if I lost. So, you know, I just had a pretty good attitude about that.”
Her second singles Slam came in 1972, when she beat Evonne Goolagong in the Australian Open final. But it was in 1977, Wimbledon’s centenary and Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee, that Wade sealed her legacy.
At nearly 32, in her 16th appearance at the tournament, she finally reached the final by beating defending champion Chris Evert. Meanwhile, she clinched the title by beating Betty Stöve in three sets, nine days before her 32nd birthday.
Records that still stand
Wade’s career is defined not just by titles, but by endurance. She played Wimbledon a record 26 times, including 24 appearances in singles. Between 1967 and 1979, she was never out of the world’s top 10. She won 55 professional singles titles, earned over $1.5 million in prize money, and reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 2 in 1975.
In doubles, she formed a formidable partnership with Margaret Court, winning four major titles together: one each at the Australian and French Opens, and two at the US Open. No other British woman has won majors in both singles and doubles across all four Grand Slam tournaments.
Retirement and life after tennis
Wade retired from singles at the end of 1985 and from doubles a year later. By then, her career had spanned 26 years. She transitioned into commentary, becoming one of the most familiar voices of Wimbledon for the BBC, and also appeared on CBS and Eurosport as an analyst.
For a generation of British tennis fans, Wade was the standard. For years, her 1977 Wimbledon win was the last by a British player in singles, until Andy Murray broke the drought in 2012. Then, in 2021, Emma Raducanu ended the wait for a British woman.