The 1997 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on

grass court A grass court is one of the four different types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament. Although grass c ...

s at the

All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London, England, is a Gentlemen's club, private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon ...

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...

in the United Kingdom. It was the 111th edition of the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...

and was held from 23 June to 6 July 1997. The championships saw the inauguration of a new No. 1 Court, the third court to be named such in the club's history. To commemorate the new stadium, all the three-time or more singles champions were invited to a ceremony marking the opening of the new court and were presented with a silver salver. Ten of the thirteen surviving eligible champions attended:

Louise Brough Althea Louise Brough Clapp (née Brough; March 11, 1923 – February 3, 2014) was an American tennis player. In her career between 1939 and 1959, she won six Grand Slam singles titles as well as numerous doubles and mixed-doubles titles. At the ...

, Rod Laver,

Margaret 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 ...

, Billie Jean King, John Newcombe, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova,

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...

, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras. The only surviving absentees were

Maria Bueno Maria Esther Andion Bueno (11 October 1939 – 8 June 2018) was a Brazilian professional tennis player. During her 11-year career in the 1950s and 1960s, she won 19 Grand Slam titles (seven in women's singles, 11 in women's doubles, and one in ...

and Björn Borg who declined to attend and Steffi Graf who was recovering from knee surgery and unable to be present. The first match played on the new court was between

Tim Henman Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in th ...

and Daniel Nestor. For only the second time in the tournament history (after the 1991 edition), Wimbledon saw play during the Middle Sunday, after 3 days of suspension due to rain.

Prize money

The total prize money for 1997 championships was £6,884,952. The winner of the men's title earned £415,000 while the women's singles champion earned £373,500. _{* per team}

Champions

Seniors

Men's singles

Pete Sampras defeated Cédric Pioline, 6–4, 6–2, 6–4 * It was Sampras' 10th career Grand Slam singles title and his 4th title at Wimbledon.

Women's singles

Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...

defeated

Jana Novotná Jana Novotná (; 2 October 1968 – 19 November 2017) was a Czech professional tennis player. She played a serve and volley game, an increasingly rare style of play among women during her career. Novotná won the women's singles title at Wimbl ...

, 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 * It was Hingis' 2nd career Grand Slam singles title and her 1st and only title at Wimbledon.

Men's doubles

Todd Woodbridge Todd Andrew Woodbridge, OAM (born 2 April 1971) is an Australian former professional tennis player and current sports broadcaster with the Nine Network. Woodbridge is best known for his successful Doubles partnerships with Mark Woodforde (n ...

Mark Woodforde Mark Raymond Woodforde, OAM (born 23 September 1965) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. He is best known as one half of " The Woodies", a doubles partnership with Todd Woodbridge. Woodforde was born in Adelaide, and joine ...

defeated Jacco Eltingh /

Paul Haarhuis Paul Vincent Nicholas Haarhuis (born 19 February 1966) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. He is a former world No. 1 doubles player, having reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 1995. He won six Grand Sl ...

, 7–6^(7–4), 7–6^(9–7), 5–7, 6–3 * It was Woodbridge's 14th career Grand Slam doubles title and his 6th title at Wimbledon. It was Woodforde's 15th career Grand Slam doubles title and his 6th title at Wimbledon.

Women's doubles

Gigi Fernández /

Natasha Zvereva Natallia Marataŭna Zvierava ( be, Наталля Маратаўна Зверава; russian: Наталья Маратовна Зверева, Natalia Maratovna Zvereva; born 16 April 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Belarus ...

defeated

Nicole Arendt Nicole J. Arendt (born August 26, 1969) is an American retired professional tennis player. Arendt won sixteen doubles titles in her career. The left-hander reached her highest singles ranking on the WTA Tour on June 16, 1997, when she was ranked ...

/ Manon Bollegraf, 7–6^(7–4), 6–4 * It was Fernández's 17th and last career Grand Slam doubles title and her 4th title at Wimbledon. It was Zvereva's 18th and last career Grand Slam doubles title and her 5th title at Wimbledon.

Mixed doubles

Cyril Suk Cyril Suk III (born 29 January 1967) is a former professional tennis player. A doubles specialist, Suk won five Grand Slam titles, one men's doubles and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and 32 ATP Tour doubles titles during his career. Ea ...

/ Helena Suková defeated

Andrei Olhovskiy Andrei Stanislavovich Olhovskiy (russian: Андре́й Станисла́вович Ольхо́вский; ; born 15 April 1966) is a former tennis player from Russia, who turned professional in 1989. Career Olhovskiy represented the Sovie ...

/ Larisa Neiland, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 * It was Suk's 4th and last career Grand Slam mixed doubles title and his 3rd title at Wimbledon. It was Suková's 5th and last career Grand Slam mixed doubles title and her 3rd title at Wimbledon.

Juniors

Boys' singles

Wesley Whitehouse Wesley Whitehouse (born 13 March 1979) is a South African-born New Zealand tennis player. Biography Whitehouse lives or has lived in between Pretoria, South Africa and Phoenix, Arizona but currently lives in Auckland, New Zealand Career J ...

defeated

Daniel Elsner Daniel Elsner (born 4 January 1979) is a former professional German tennis player. Juniors Elsner was an outstanding juniors player. He won 3 consecutive juniors grand slam singles titles: the 1996 Juniors U.S. Open, the 1997 Juniors Australian ...

, 6–3, 7–6^(8–6)

Girls' singles

Cara Black Cara Cavell Black (born 17 February 1979) is a Zimbabwean former professional tennis player. Black was primarily a doubles specialist, winning 60 WTA Tour and 11 ITF doubles titles. A former doubles world No. 1, she won ten major titles. By ...

defeated

Brie Rippner Aubrie "Brie" Rippner (born January 21, 1980) is an American retired tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player ...

, 6–3, 7–5

Boys' doubles

Luis Horna Luis Horna Biscari (; born 14 September 1980, in Lima) is a former tour professional tennis player from Peru, who turned professional in 1998. Known by his nickname "Lucho", he won 2 career singles titles, reached the quarterfinals of the 2004 ...

Nicolás Massú Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed ''El Vampiro'' (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean former professional tennis player. A former world No. 9 in singles, he won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 2004 ...

defeated

Jaco van der Westhuizen Jaco may refer to: Places *Jaco Island, island of East Timor * Jacó, Costa Rica, a town in Western Costa Rica * Jaco, West Virginia Animals * Jaco is the local name for the Dominican endemic red-necked amazon parrot * Usual name for the grey pa ...

, 6–4, 6–2

Girls' doubles

Irina Selyutina Irina Gennadyevna Selyutina (Ирина Геннадьевна Селютина; born 7 November 1979) is a former tennis player from Kazakhstan. She is a former world No. 1 in junior doubles, winning French Open and Wimbledon in 1997, partne ...

defeated Maja Matevžič /

Katarina Srebotnik Katarina Srebotnik (born 12 March 1981) is a Slovenian retired professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 7 August 2006. On 4 July 2011, she reached No. 1 of the WTA doubles rankings, holding this ...

, 3–6, 7–5, 6–3

Singles seeds

Men's singles

# Pete Sampras (champion) #

Goran Ivanišević Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He is the only player to win a Wimbledon singles title as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001 while ranked world No. 125, after ...

''(second round, lost to

Magnus Norman Magnus Norman (born 30 May 1976) is a Swedish tennis coach and retired professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 2 singles ranking on June 12, 2000. His career highlights include re ...

)'' #

Yevgeny Kafelnikov Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...

''(first round, lost to

Nicolas Kiefer Nicolas Kiefer (; born 5 July 1977) is a German former professional tennis player. He reached the semifinals of the 2006 Australian Open and won a silver medal in men's doubles with partner Rainer Schüttler at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Kiefer ...

)'' # Richard Krajicek ''(fourth round, lost to

)'' #

Michael Chang Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He is the youngest man in history to win a singles major, winning the 1989 French Open at 17 years and 109 days old. Chang won a total of ...

''(first round, lost to

)'' #

Thomas Muster Thomas Muster (born 2 October 1967) is an Austrian former world No. 1 tennis player. One of the world's leading clay court players in the 1990s, he won the 1995 French Open and at his peak was called "The King of Clay". In addition, he won eig ...

''(withdrew before the tournament began)'' #

Mark Philippoussis Mark Anthony Philippoussis ( ; born 7 November 1976) is an Australian former professional tennis player of Greek and Italian descent. Philippoussis' greatest achievements are winning two Davis Cup titles with Australia in 1999 and 2003, wi ...

''(first round, lost to

Greg Rusedski Gregory Rusedski (born 6 September 1973) is a British and Canadian former tennis player. He was the British No. 1 in 1997, 1999 and 2006, and reached the ATP ranking of world No. 4 for periods from 6 October 1997 to 12 October 1997 and from 25 ...

)'' # Boris Becker ''(quarterfinals, lost to Pete Sampras)'' #

Marcelo Ríos Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (; born 26 December 1975) is a Chilean former world No. 1 tennis player. Nicknamed ''"El Chino"'' ("The Chinese") and ''"El zurdo de Vitacura"'' ("The Lefty from Vitacura"), he became the first Latin American play ...

''(fourth round, lost to Boris Becker)'' #

Carlos Moyá Carlos Moyá Llompart (; born 27 August 1976) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he was part of his country's succ ...

''(second round, lost to Boris Becker)'' #

Gustavo Kuerten Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times (1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...

''(first round, lost to

Justin Gimelstob Justin Jeremy Gimelstob (born January 26, 1977) is a retired American tennis player. Gimelstob has been a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, and as of 2009 lived in Santa Monica, California. He was the top-ranked boy in his age group at the ag ...

)'' #

Pat Rafter Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He reached the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking on 26 July 1999. His career highlights include consecutive US Open ...

''(fourth round, lost to

)'' # Andriy Medvedev ''(third round, lost to

)'' #

''(quarterfinals, lost to

Michael Stich Michael Detlef Stich (, ; born 18 October 1968) is a German former professional tennis player. He won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1991, the men's doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in 1992, and was a singles r ...

)'' #

Wayne Ferreira Wayne Richard Ferreira (born 15 September 1971) is a South African former professional tennis player and current tennis coach. Career As a junior player, Ferreira was ranked world no. 1 junior doubles player and no. 6 junior singles player. He ...

''(third round, lost to Cédric Pioline)'' #

Petr Korda Petr Korda (born 23 January 1968) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He won the 1998 Australian Open and was runner-up at the 1992 French Open, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 2 in February 1998. Korda tested positive for dopin ...

''(fourth round, lost to Pete Sampras)'' #

Jonas Björkman Jonas Lars Björkman (; born 23 March 1972) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He is a former world No. 1 in doubles, and also a former world No. 4 in singles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 T ...

''(first round, lost to

Chris Wilkinson Christopher Wilkinson (born 5 January 1970) is a former tennis player from England. Career Born and bred in Southampton, Chris Wilkinson has achieved much in the world of tennis. But it could have been very different as his first passion was ...

)''

Women's singles

(champion) #

Monica Seles Monica Seles (; hu, Széles Mónika, ; sr, Моника Селеш, Monika Seleš; born December 2, 1973) is a retired professional tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. A former world No. 1, she won nine Grand Sla ...

''(third round, lost to Sandrine Testud)'' #

''(final, lost to

)'' #

Iva Majoli Iva Majoli-Marić (born 12 August 1977) is a former professional tennis player from Croatia who played for both Yugoslavia and Croatia. She upset Martina Hingis to win the women's singles title at the French Open in 1997. Majoli also won seven o ...

''(quarterfinals, lost to

Anna Kournikova Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova ( rus, Анна Сергеевна Курникова, p=ˈanːə sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvnə ˈkurnʲɪkəvə, a=Anna_kournikova.ogg; born 7 June 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player and American televisi ...

)'' #

Lindsay Davenport Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. Davenport was ranked singles world No. 1 for a total of 98 weeks, and was the year-end singles world No. 1 four times (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005) ...

''(second round, lost to

Denisa Chládková Denisa Chládková (born 8 February 1979) is a former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. Life and career Chládková did not win any WTA Tour titles, but she is probably best remembered for reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinal ...

)'' #

Amanda Coetzer Amanda Coetzer (born 22 October 1971, in Hoopstad) is a South African former professional tennis player. Coetzer finished in the WTA rankings top 20 for ten consecutive seasons (1992–2001), peaking at world No. 3. She reached three Grand Slam ...

''(second round, lost to

Patricia Hy-Boulais Patricia Hy-Boulais (born 22 August 1965) is a former tennis player. She turned professional on 12 October 1986. Early in her career she represented Hong Kong (since the beginning until the end of the 1987 season). She became a citizen of Canada ...

)'' #

Anke Huber Anke Huber (born 4 December 1974) is a German retired top-five professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1996 Australian Open and the 1995 WTA Finals. Huber won twelve singles and one doubles title on the WTA ...

''(third round, lost to

)'' #

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Aránzazu Isabel María "Arantxa" Sánchez Vicario (; born 18 December 1971) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. She won 14 Grand Slam titles: four in singles, six in women's doubles, and four in mixed doubles. She also won four Ol ...

''(semifinals, lost to

)'' #

Mary Pierce Mary Caroline Pierce (born 15 January 1975) is a retired tennis professional who represented France internationally in team competitions and the Olympics. She was born in Canada to an American father and a French mother, and holds citizenship of ...

''(fourth round, lost to

)'' #

Conchita Martínez "Conchita" Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at Wimbledon, doing so in 1994. Martínez also was the runner-up at the 1998 Australi ...

''(third round, lost to Helena Suková)'' #

Mary Joe Fernández Mary Joe Fernández Godsick (born María José Fernández; August 19, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player, who reached a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in both singles and doubles. In singles, Fernández was the runner-up ...

''(fourth round, lost to

)'' # Irina Spîrlea ''(fourth round, lost to

)'' #

Kimberly Po Kimberly Po (born October 20, 1971) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. In her career, she won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 2000, partnering Donald Johnson. She also was a runner-up at the US Open in women ...

''(first round, lost to

Kerry-Anne Guse Kerry-Anne Guse (4 December 1972) is an Australian tennis player. Born in Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a ...

)'' #

Brenda Schultz-McCarthy Brenda Anne Marie Schultz-McCarthy (born 28 December 1970) is a former Dutch tennis player. Primarily known by her maiden name Brenda Schultz, she married Sean McCarthy, a former American football player at University of Cincinnati, on 8 April ...

''(third round, lost to

Sabine Appelmans Sabine Appelmans (born 22 April 1972) is a former professional tennis player from Belgium. She was Belgium's Fed Cup captain from 2007 until 2011. Career Appelmans started playing at the neighbour's court at the age of seven. Her first traine ...

)'' #

Ruxandra Dragomir Ruxandra Dragomir Ilie (born 24 October 1972) is a retired tennis player from Romania. She won four singles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour during her career. The right-hander reached her highest individual WTA ranking on 25 August 1997 ...

''(first round, lost to

Andrea Glass Andrea Glass (born 17 July 1976) is a former professional German tennis player. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 53rd, which she reached on 1 February 1999, as a result of reaching the third round of the Australian Open, where Anna Kournikova ...

)'' #

Barbara Paulus Barbara Paulus (born 1 September 1970) is a former professional top-ten tennis player from Austria. She began playing on the WTA Tour in 1986 and retired in 2001. During her career, she won a total of seven WTA tournaments (six singles titles, on ...

''(second round, lost to

Naoko Kijimuta Naoko Kijimuta ( Japanese: 雉子牟田直子 ''Kijimuta Naoko'', born March 26, 1972) is a retired tennis player and winner of five professional doubles tournaments. She has been a representative of Japan in the Federation Cup. Career In the ...

)''

References

External links

Official Wimbledon Championships website
{{1997 in tennis