Between the wars
Great Britain · born Nottingham, 1911 · died 1988 · twice Wimbledon doubles champion with Kay Stammers
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2
Wimbledon ladies' doubles titles, 1935 and 1936, with Kay Stammers
3
Wimbledon ladies' doubles finals, 1933 to 1936
112
Matches played at Wimbledon, 1930 to 1955
1933
US doubles title with Betty Nuthall
9
Years in the Wightman Cup team, 1931 to 1939
Winifred Alice James, always Freda, was born in Nottingham on 11 January 1911. She first made her name at the Magdala Lawn Tennis Club in the city, where she won the mixed doubles in 1927, and went on to win county titles and the Nottingham Open. She played in the British Wightman Cup team every year from 1931 to 1939.
Her best tennis came in doubles. With Betty Nuthall she won the US title at Forest Hills in 1933. At Wimbledon she lost the 1933 final with Billie Yorke, then won the title in 1935 and 1936 with Kay Stammers. In singles she won the All England Plate in 1937.
She married and played on as Mrs Hammersley after the Second World War, returning to Wimbledon in 1946 and again every year from 1949 to 1955. Her Wimbledon record ran to 112 matches across singles, doubles and mixed. She died at Stratford-upon-Avon on 27 December 1988.
| Wimbledon doubles finals | 1933: lost with Billie Yorke to Simonne Mathieu and Elizabeth Ryan 6-2, 9-11, 6-4. 1935: with Kay Stammers beat Mathieu and Hilde Sperling 6-1, 6-4. 1936: with Stammers beat Sarah Fabyan and Helen Jacobs 6-2, 6-1 |
|---|---|
| Longest final | The 38 games of the 1933 final, lost with Billie Yorke, remain the joint record for a Wimbledon ladies' doubles final |
| Wimbledon 1932 | Lost in the first round of the doubles with Mary Heeley to Doris Metaxa and Josane Sigart 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, after holding three match points at 5-2 in the third set; Metaxa and Sigart went on to win the title |
| All England Plate, 1937 | Won the plate for early singles losers, beating M.E. Lumb 6-0, 7-5 in the final |
| Wimbledon record | Singles 21-13, doubles 30-14, mixed 18-16, from 1930 to 1955 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1935 | Women's doubles | with Kay Stammers Menzies |
| 1936 | Women's doubles | with Kay Stammers Menzies |
| US Championships | ||
| 1933 | Women's doubles | with Betty Nuthall |
| Surrey Championships (Surbiton) | ||
| 1937 | 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
The person behind the player.
Forest Hills 1933
James and Betty Nuthall won the 1933 US doubles without playing the final. Helen Wills Moody had retired from the singles final against Helen Jacobs with a bad right leg, and she then withdrew from the doubles, in which she was to partner Elizabeth Ryan, giving the title by default to the two British players.
Source: Auckland Star, 28 August 1933, Papers PastNottingham
James first made her mark at the Magdala Lawn Tennis Club in Nottingham in 1927, winning the mixed doubles with A.C. Cullen, a local footballer. The club counts her as the reason it is one of the few local clubs in the country to have produced a Grand Slam champion.
Source: Magdala Lawn Tennis Club, Our historyWimbledon 1932
In her early Wimbledon years James and Mary Heeley led Doris Metaxa and Josane Sigart 5-2 in the third set of a first-round doubles and held three match points. They lost 7-5 in the third, and Metaxa and Sigart went on to win the championship.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Berkeley 1939
On the Wightman Cup trip of 1939 James, by then Mrs Hammersley, stayed on to play the Pacific Coast Championships at Berkeley, California, and won the doubles with Nina Brown, beating Pauline Betz and Jane Stanton 4-6, 6-0, 6-2. The engraved trophy was sold at auction in 2018.
Source: Graham Budd Auctions, May 2018, lot 496Wimbledon 1986
In 1986 the chairman of the All England Club began inviting former players to the Championships as his guests. The first list included Fred Perry, Pat Hughes, Raymond Tuckey, Kay Stammers, Kitty Godfree and W.A. Hammersley, the former Freda James.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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