Sarah Virginia Wade (born 10 July 1945) is a British former professional tennis player. She won three Major tennis singles championships and four major doubles championships, and is the only British woman in history to have won titles at all four majors. She was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world in singles, and No. 1 in the world in doubles. Wade was the most recent British tennis player to win a major singles tournament until Andy Murray won the 2012 US Open, and was the most recent British woman to have won a major singles title until Emma Raducanu won the 2021 US Open. After retiring from competitive tennis, she coached for four years, and has also worked as a tennis commentator and game analyst for the BBC and Eurosport and CBS in the U.S.

Early life

Wade was born in Bournemouth, England, UK, on 10 July 1945. Her father was the archdeacon of Durban. At one year old, Wade moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

with her parents. There, she learned how to play tennis. When she was fifteen, the family moved back to England and she went to Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School and

Talbot Heath School Talbot Heath School is a selective, Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day and boarding School for girls aged 3–18 located in Talbot Woods, Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The school was established in 1886 and was previously known ...

, Bournemouth. In 1961, she was in the tennis team of Wimbledon County Girls' Grammar School. She went on to study mathematics and physics at the University of Sussex, graduating in 1966.

Tennis career

Wade's tennis career spanned the end of the amateur era and the start of the open era. In 1968, as an amateur, she won the inaugural open tennis competition – the British Hard Court Open at Bournemouth. She turned down the £300 first prize, choosing to play for expenses only. Five months later, after turning professional, she won the women's singles championship at the first US Open (and prize-money of $6,000 - $ today), defeating Billie Jean King in the final. Her second Major tennis singles championship came in 1972 at the Australian Open. There, she defeated Australian

Evonne Goolagong Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley (née Goolagong; born 31 July 1951) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. At the age of 19, she won the French Open sing ...

in the final 6–4, 6–4. She was appointed a member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the

1973 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1973 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were published on 2 June 1973 for t ...

for services to lawn tennis. Wade won Wimbledon in 1977. It was the 16th year in which she had played at Wimbledon, and she made her first appearance in the final by beating the defending champion Chris Evert in the semifinal 6–2, 4–6, 6–1. In the final, she beat Betty Stöve in three sets to claim the championship, nine days before her 32nd birthday. 1977 was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Wimbledon Championships, as well as the Silver Jubilee year of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...

, who attended the final for the first time since 1962. Wade also won four Major women's doubles championships with

Margaret Smith Court Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian retired former world No. 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, her 24 maj ...

– two of them at the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament, one at the Australian Open, and one at the French Open. In 1983, at the age of 37, she won the Italian Open women's doubles championship with Virginia Ruzici of Romania. Over her career, Wade won 55 professional singles championships and amassed $1,542,278 dollars in career prize money. She was ranked in the world's top 10 continuously from 1967 to 1979. Her career spanned a total of 26 years. She retired from singles competition at the end of the 1985 tennis season, and then from doubles at the end of 1986. The 26 times that she played at Wimbledon is an all-time record, 24 of those times being in the women's singles.

After tennis

Since 1981, while she was still playing, Wade has been a reporter on tennis events for the BBC. In 1982, she became the first woman to be elected to the Wimbledon Committee. Wade was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the

1986 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supple ...

for services to lawn tennis. In 1989, Wade was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (3 titles)

Women's doubles: 10 (4 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Year-end championships finals

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner–up)

Singles titles (55)

:''Bold type indicates a Major championship'' *1968 – US Open, Bloemfontein, Bournemouth, East London, Dewar Cup London *1969 – Cape Town, Hoylake, Dewar Cup Perth, Dewar Cup Stalybridge, Dewar Cup Aberavon, Dewar-Crystal Palace, East London *1970 – German Indoors, West Berlin Open, Irish Open, Stalybridge, Aberavon *1971 – Cape Town, Catania Open, Rome, Newport-Wales,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

, Dewar Cup Billingham, Dewar-Aberavon, Dewar Cup Final-London, Clean Air Classic *1972 – Australian Open, VS Indoors-Mass., Merion, Buenos Aires *1973 – Dallas, Bournemouth, Dewar-Aberavon, Dewar Cup Edinburgh, Dewar-Billingham, Dewar Cup Final-Albert Hall *1974 – VS Chicago, Bournemouth, VS Phoenix, Dewar-Edinburgh, Dewar Cup-London *1975 – VS Dallas, VS Philadelphia, Paris Indoors, Eastbourne, Dewar Cup, Stockholm *1976 – U.S. Indoor Championships, Dewar Cup *1977 – Wimbledon, World Invitational Hilton Head, Tokyo Sillook *1978 – Mahwah, Tokyo Sillook, Florida Open (Source: WTA)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

Personal life

Wade has no children and has never married. She has said "If I'd done better earlier, and my career had been at its peak earlier and I'd faded, I would probably have had a totally different life." She lives mostly in New York and in Chelsea, London.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wade, Virginia 1945 births Alumni of the University of Sussex Australian Open (tennis) champions BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners British expatriates in South Africa British female tennis players English female tennis players English sports broadcasters English sports coaches English tennis coaches French Open champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Talbot Heath School People educated at Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School Sportspeople from Bournemouth Sportspeople from Durban Tennis commentators US Open (tennis) champions Wimbledon champions World number 1 ranked female tennis players