Between the wars
Great Britain · born London, 1896 · died 1992 · twice Wimbledon champion · five Olympic medals
All playersBack to the rankings
2
Wimbledon singles titles, 1924 and 1926
54-1
Helen Wills at Wimbledon; the one loss was hers
5
Olympic tennis medals, 1920 and 1924
8
All England badminton titles, 1920 to 1925
1926
Wimbledon mixed title with her husband
Born in London in 1896, Kitty McKane was a champion at two racket sports. She won eight All England badminton titles between 1920 and 1925 and five Olympic tennis medals at Antwerp in 1920 and Paris in 1924, including gold in the women's doubles. In 1923 she won the World Covered Court Championships, and in 1925 she became the first player to reach the singles finals of the French, Wimbledon and US championships in a career. She was ranked No. 2 in the world in 1926, the year she married the Davis Cup player Leslie Godfree, and played the Wightman Cup for Great Britain from 1923 to 1927. She entered the Hall of Fame in 1978, received an English Heritage blue plaque in 2006, and died in 1992, aged 96.
| Major singles titles | 2: Wimbledon (1924, 1926) |
|---|---|
| Major singles finals lost | 2: Wimbledon 1923, US 1925 |
| Other grass singles titles | 1: Kent (1922) |
| Major doubles titles | 2 doubles (US 2), 3 mixed (Wimbledon 2, US 1) |
| Wimbledon finals | 1923: lost to Suzanne Lenglen 6-2, 6-2. 1924: beat Helen Wills 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. 1926: beat Lilí de Álvarez 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 |
| Wimbledon mixed | 1924 with Brian Gilbert, beating Leslie Godfree and Dorothy Shepherd-Barron 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. 1926 with Leslie Godfree, beating Howard Kinsey and Mary Browne 6-3, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon doubles finals | 1922 with her sister Margaret, lost to Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan 0-6, 4-6. 1924 with Phyllis Covell, lost to Hazel Wightman and Helen Wills 4-6, 4-6 |
| Wightman Cup | 1924: beat Helen Wills 6-2, 6-2. 1930: with Phoebe Holcroft Watson, beat Helen Wills Moody and Helen Jacobs 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 in the deciding doubles |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1924 | Mixed doubles | with Brian Gilbert |
| 1924 | Women's singles | |
| 1926 | Mixed doubles | with Leslie Godfree |
| 1926 | Women's singles | |
| US Championships | ||
| 1923 | Women's doubles | with Phyllis Covell |
| 1925 | Mixed doubles | with John Hawkes |
| 1927 | Women's doubles | with Ermyntrude Harvey |
| Kent Championships (Beckenham) | ||
| 1922 | 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
"Her victories sowed the seeds of (other British) Wimbledon wins. I feel she showed Britain the way in the world of tennis."
The person behind the player.
Wimbledon 1924 · Final
Helen Wills had lost 11 games in five rounds and won the first set 6-4. McKane was 1-4 down in the second, then turned the match round and won 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. The New York Times called Wills the better stroke maker. It did not matter: in her career Wills won 54 singles matches at Wimbledon and lost only this one.
Source: Tennis AbstractWimbledon 1924
Suzanne Lenglen, champion five years running, beat Hazel Wightman and Elizabeth Ryan, the second in three sets, then withdrew through illness before her semi-final against McKane. McKane walked into the final. She said later that in her view she had had some luck in becoming champion.
Source: Tennis AbstractWimbledon 1924 and 1926
In the 1924 mixed final she and Brian Gilbert beat Leslie Godfree and Dorothy Shepherd-Barron in three sets. Two years later she married Godfree, and the pair won the 1926 mixed title together, beating Howard Kinsey and Mary Browne in the final. No other married couple has won it.
Source: WikipediaAll England Badminton 1924
Naturally left-handed, she was told as a child that tennis was played with the right hand, and she played both her sports that way. She said she was never coached: her ability was natural and instinctive. In 1924 she won all three All England badminton events, four months before her first Wimbledon title.
Source: Tennis AbstractEast Sheen 1987
In 1987 she was out shopping in an East Sheen supermarket when Eamonn Andrews appeared with the red book, and she became the subject of This Is Your Life. Two years later, in her nineties, she opened Kathleen Godfree Court, a retirement development in Wimbledon.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 1986
She kept playing tennis into her nineties, sometimes with Jean Borotra, her contemporary from the 1920s. At the 100th Championships in 1986 she was the one chosen to hand the trophy to Martina Navratilova, 62 years after winning it herself as Kitty McKane.
Source: Tennis AbstractFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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