Virginia Wade on Her Crowning Wimbledon Achievement | TennisWorthy Moments
6/30/20262 min
For Hall of Famer Virginia Wade, the 16th time was the charm at Wimbledon. Nearly 50 years on, the most recent British woman to win the singles title at The Championships reflects on sealing her crowning achievement during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977.
This episode is part of the International Tennis Hall of Fame's TennisWorthy short-form series. View more TennisWorthy stories at tennisfame.com/tennisworthy.
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First 90 secondsVirginia Wade· Guest0:00
[instrumental music] When I was thinking about Wimbledon in 1977, I thought to myself, "At this stage of my career, I have never really played as well as I should at Wimbledon." So I'm thinking, "Oh, boy," you know, "What am I even doing playing the tournament?" And then I found out that the Queen was going to be there. So that just made everything gel. [instrumental music] For an English player, Wimbledon is just the ultimate, but it also comes with its difficulties. When I got to 1977, I hadn't won a Grand Slam for five years, and there was a tremendous atmosphere, and the papers were all agog. That was my 16th Wimbledon, and I think they'd given up on me, really.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:50
Virginia Wade, a loser at 15 Wimbledons, and totally unpredictable.
Virginia Wade· Guest0:55
In the end, it's a balance of motivation which has to override the tension.
Speaker 2· Soundbite1:01
Virginia under some pressure here.
Virginia Wade· Guest1:05
Once I'd lost the first set, I thought, "Well, that's fine. Now you know you've gotta stay out here for, uh, as long as you have to to win this match." So from then on, I just, uh, was all fired up and ready to go.
Speaker 2· Soundbite1:19
[tennis ball hit] Four-love.