The early years
Great Britain · born Ealing, 1870 · died 1966 · five times Wimbledon champion
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5
Wimbledon singles titles, 1895 to 1908
11
Wimbledon singles finals
8
Wimbledon finals in a row, 1895 to 1902
37
Age at the 1908 title, still the oldest
1900
First woman to win an Olympic title
Charlotte Cooper was born in Ealing in 1870, the youngest daughter of a miller, and learned the game at the Ealing Lawn Tennis Club, where she won the club championship at 14. Her first senior title came at Ilkley in 1893. She won Wimbledon in 1895, 1896, 1898 and 1901, and at the Paris Olympics of 1900 she won the singles and, with Reginald Doherty, the mixed, the first woman to win an Olympic title. In 1901 she married Alfred Sterry, a solicitor who later became president of the Lawn Tennis Association. She won her fifth Wimbledon title in 1908 at 37, after becoming a mother, and reached her last final in 1912. She was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013 and died in Helensburgh, Scotland, in 1966, aged 96.
| Major singles titles | 5: Wimbledon (1895, 1896, 1898, 1901, 1908) |
|---|---|
| Major singles finals lost | 6: Wimbledon 1897, Wimbledon 1899, Wimbledon 1900, Wimbledon 1902, Wimbledon 1904, Wimbledon 1912 |
| Other grass singles titles | 9: Eastbourne 3 (1897, 1901, 1908); Irish Championships 2 (1895, 1898); Northern Championships 2 (1897, 1907); Kent (1898); Scottish Championships (1899) |
| Other grass doubles titles | 7: Irish Championships 7 (1895, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1899, 1900, 1900) |
| Titles kept in a challenge round | 1: Wimbledon (1896). Scored as a final won, not a full draw (-4 points). |
| Wimbledon singles wins | 1895: beat Helen Jackson 7-5, 8-6. 1896: beat Alice Simpson Pickering 6-2, 6-3. 1898: beat Louisa Martin 6-4, 6-4. 1901: beat Blanche Bingley Hillyard 6-2, 6-2. 1908: beat Agnes Morton 6-4, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon finals lost to | Blanche Bingley Hillyard 1897, 1899, 1900; Muriel Robb 1902; Dorothea Lambert Chambers 1904; Ethel Thomson Larcombe 1912 |
| All England mixed doubles | Seven titles before the event gained championship status: 1894 to 1898 with Harold Mahony, 1900 with Laurence Doherty, 1908 with Xenophon Casdagli |
| Wimbledon doubles | Final 1913, the first championship ladies' doubles, with Dorothea Lambert Chambers; lost to Winifred McNair and Dora Boothby after retiring |
| Record run | Eight consecutive singles finals, 1895 to 1902, a record until Martina Navratilova reached her ninth in a row in 1990 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1895 | Women's singles | |
| 1896 | Women's singles | |
| 1898 | Women's singles | |
| 1901 | Women's singles | |
| 1908 | Women's singles | |
| Irish Championships | ||
| 1895 | Women's doubles†| with E. Cooper |
| 1895 | Mixed doubles†| with Harold Mahony |
| 1895 | Women's singles†| |
| 1896 | Mixed doubles†| with Harold Mahony |
| 1897 | Women's doubles†| with Blanche Bingley |
| 1898 | Women's singles†| |
| 1899 | Mixed doubles†| with Reginald Doherty |
| 1900 | Women's doubles†| with E. Cooper |
| 1900 | Mixed doubles†| with Reginald Doherty |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 1896 | Women's singles†| |
| 1897 | Women's singles†| |
| 1898 | Women's singles†| |
| 1900 | Women's singles†| |
| 1902 | Women's singles†| |
| Surrey Championships (Surbiton) | ||
| 1900 | Women's singles†| |
| 1901 | Women's singles†| |
| 1902 | Women's singles†| |
| 1907 | Women's singles†| |
| 1913 | Women's singles†| |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 1897 | Women's singles†South of England Championships | |
| 1901 | Women's singles†South of England Championships | |
| 1908 | Women's singles†South of England Championships | |
| Northern Championships | ||
| 1897 | Women's singles†| |
| 1907 | Women's singles†| |
| Kent Championships (Beckenham) | ||
| 1898 | Women's singles†| |
| Scottish Championships | ||
| 1899 | Women's singles†| |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"Winning my first championship of the Ealing Lawn Tennis Club at the age of 14 was a very important moment in my life."
The person behind the player.
Ealing, 1890s
She is said to have cycled between Ealing and Wimbledon. After one title she rode home and found her brother pruning the roses. "I've just won the Championship," she told him. He said nothing and went back to his roses. Bob Beausire told the story to the New Zealand Herald in 2012.
Source: Team GBWimbledon 1895
In her first Wimbledon final, against Helen Jackson, she trailed 0-5 in the first set and 0-5 again in the second. She won both, 7-5, 8-6. The holder had not come back to defend, so the all-comers final decided the championship.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon, 1895 onwards
She was declared completely deaf at 26 and is said never to have heard a tennis ball again after her first title run in 1895. The International Tennis Hall of Fame notes that she won all but one of her Wimbledon titles without the benefit of sound, which players use to judge an opponent's pace.
Source: Lawn Tennis AssociationParis 1900
At the Paris Olympics she beat Hélène Prévost 6-1, 7-5 for the singles and won the mixed with Reginald Doherty. She was the first woman to win an Olympic title. No medals were handed out at those Games; they were issued later.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameWimbledon 1902
Rain stopped her Challenge Round against Muriel Robb at one set all, 6-4, 11-13. The match was not resumed but replayed from the start the next day, and Robb won 7-5, 6-1. Counting both days, the 53 games made it the longest women's singles final on record at the time.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 1908
Seven years after her last title, and now a mother of two, she beat Dorothea Lambert Chambers in the quarter-finals and Agnes Morton 6-4, 6-4 in the final. She was 37. She also won the mixed that year with Xenophon Casdagli.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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