Between the wars
Belgium · born Brussels, 1909 · died 1999 · Wimbledon doubles champion 1932 with Doris Metaxa, Belgium's first Grand Slam champion
All playersBack to the rankings
1932
Wimbledon ladies' doubles title with Doris Metaxa
1st
Belgian to win a Wimbledon title
3
Match points saved in the first round in 1932
3
Wimbledon finals, 1931 and 1932
6
Belgian singles titles, 1928 to 1946
Josane Sigart was born in Brussels on 7 January 1909. She was Belgium's leading woman player between the wars and won the Belgian singles championship six times between 1928 and 1946. A. Wallis Myers ranked her No. 10 in the world in 1932.
Her grass court career centred on Wimbledon, where she played singles from at least 1930 and formed a doubles partnership with the young Frenchwoman Doris Metaxa. They reached the ladies' doubles final in 1931 as fourth seeds and lost in three sets; in 1932 they came back, survived three match points in the first round and won the title. The same year she reached the mixed doubles final with the Australian Harry Hopman.
The 1932 doubles made her the first Belgian to win a Grand Slam title, and Belgium had no other until Justine Henin won the French Open in 2003. She married and took the name de Meulemeester. She died on 20 August 1999, aged 90.
| Wimbledon ladies' doubles 1932 final | With Doris Metaxa, seeded four, beat the second seeds Helen Jacobs and Elizabeth Ryan 6-4, 6-3 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon ladies' doubles 1932 first round | Beat Mary Heeley and Freda James 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 after trailing 2-5 in the final set and facing three match points |
| Wimbledon ladies' doubles 1931 final | With Metaxa, seeded four, lost to the unseeded Dorothy Shepherd-Barron and Phyllis Mudford 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon mixed 1932 final | With Harry Hopman, seeded six, lost to Enrique Maier and Elizabeth Ryan 7-5, 6-2 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Women's doubles | with Doris Metaxa |
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.
Wimbledon, 1932
In the first round she and Metaxa trailed the British pair Mary Heeley and Freda James 2-5 in the third set and faced three match points. They won 7-5 and did not lose again until they had the title. The AELTC lists the match among the great escapes of the Championships.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Wimbledon, 1932
She reached both women's finals open to her at the 1932 Championships, winning the doubles and losing the mixed with Harry Hopman, later the great Australian Davis Cup captain, to Enrique Maier and Elizabeth Ryan.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Belgium, 1940s
Under her married name, Josiane de Meulemeester, she helped to save Jewish lives during the Holocaust and is recorded by Yad Vashem among the Righteous Among the Nations.
Source: Wikipedia, citing Yad VashemFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
Join freePage updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.
