That sunny afternoon of July was an occasion to remember. To tribute a large group of champions who wrote the history of this sport we love so much. We could see them all sitting there, on the Centre Court which hosts the most ancient tennis tournament of the world. The roots of modern tennis sink there, as in 1877, during the first edition of the tournament, the rules of the game codified by Sir Walter Clopton Wingfield were definitively appointed. That year twenty-two players competed for the cup offered as prize by a local sports newspaper. The winner, the first champion in tennis history, was a young man called Spencer Gore.

Draw of Wimbledon's first edition - unknown source

Since then, a long list of champions have gaigned this trophy; at the Champions Parade we were able to see many of them, one aside the other. It was really a unique emotion.

[The Champions] [Martina photos]

KEY

S – Singles Champions
SF - Singles Finalists
D – Doubles Champions
M – Mixed Doubles Champions
GSD – Grand Slam Doubles Champions

1 Ken McGregor

GSD 51, D 52

2 Bob Hewitt

D 62, 64, 67, 72, 78, M 77, 79
3 Ken Fletcher

D 66, M 63, 65, 66, 68
4 Tony Roche

D 65, 68, 69, 70, 74, M 76, SF 68
5 Rosie Casals

D 67, 68, 70, 71, 73, M 70, 72
6 Owen Davidson

M 67, 71, 73, 74
7 Frew McMillan

D 67, 72, 78, M 78, 81
8 Peter Fleming

D 79, 81, 83, 84
9 Pam Shriver

D 81, 82, 83, 84, 86
10 Helena Sukova

D 87, 89, 90, 96, M 94, 96, 97
11 Natasha Zvereva

D 91, 92, 93, 94, 97
12 Gigi Fernandez

D 92, 93, 94, 97
16 Bunny Austin

SF 32, 38
17 Kurt Nielsen

SF 53, 55
18 Ken Rosewall

SF 54, 56, 70, 74, D 53,56
19 Darlene Hard

SF 57, 59, D 57, 59, 60, 63, M 57, 59, 60
20 Fred Stolle

SF 63, 64, 65, D 62, 64, M 61, 64, 69
21 Hana Mandlikova

SF 81, 86
22 Goran Ivanisevic

SF 92, 94, 98
24 Sidney Wood

S 31
25 Pauline Betz-Addie

S 46
26 Bob Falkenburg

S 48, D 47
27 Ted Schroeder

S 49
28 Budge Patty

S 50, D 57
29 Dick Savitt

S 51
30 Frank Sedgman

S 52, D 48, 51, 52, M 51, 52
31 Vic Seixas

S 53, M 53, 54, 55, 56
32 Jaroslav Drobny

S 54
33 Tony Trabert

S 55
64 Lindsay Davenport

S 99, D 99
34 Shirley Fry-Irvin

S 56, D 51, 52, 53, M 56
13 Ashley Cooper

S 58
35 Maria Bueno

S 59, 60, 64, D 58, 60, 63, 65, 66
36 Alex Olmedo

S 59
37 Neale Fraser

S 60, D 59, 61, M 62
38 Angela Mortimer

S 61, D 55
39 Rod Laver

S 61, 62, 68, 69, D 71, M 59, 60
40 Margaret Court

S 63, 65, 70, D 64, 69, M 63, 65, 66, 68, 75
41 Roy Emerson

S 64, 65, D 59, 61, 71
42 Billie Jean King

S 66, 67, 68, 72, 73, 75, D 61, 62, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 79, M 67, 71, 73, 74
43 Manuel Santana

S 66
44 John Newcombe

S 67, 70, 71, D 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 74
45 Ann Jones

S 69, M 69
46 Evonne Goolagong-Cawley

S 71, 80, M 74
47 Stan Smith

S 72
48 Jan Kodes

S 73
49 Chris Evert

S 74, 76, 81, D 76
50 Bjorn Borg

S 76, 77, 78, 79, 80
51 Virginia Wade

S 77
52 Martina Navratilova

S 78, 79, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 90, D 76, 79, 81, 82, 83, 84, 86, M 85, 93, 95
53 John McEnroe

S 81, 83, 84, D 79, 81, 83, 84, 92
54 Boris Becker

S 85, 86, 89
55 Pat Cash

S 87
56 Steffi Graf

S 88, 89, 91, 92, 93, 95, 96, D 88
57 Stefan Edberg

S 88, 90
58 Michael Stich

S 91, D 92
59 Andre Agassi

S 92
60 Conchita Martinez

S 94
63 Jana Novotna

S 98, D 89, 90, 95, 98, M 89
 

ABSENTS

14 Todd Woodbridge D 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, M 94
15 Mark Woodforde D 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, M 93
23 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario SF 95, 96, D 95
61 Richard Krajicek S 96
62 Martina Hingis S 97, D 96, 98
65 Pete Sampras S 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99

Photographs by:

© Harry Collins - Wimbledon official website (link here)
Pictures: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

All rights belong exclusively to the above mentioned photographers and/or websites.


Back to the List



From theWimbledon NetCam - Centre Court



From the Yahoo! France website;
© Photo by Gerry Penny (France Press)



From the Wimbledon official website



From Yahoo! Sports;
© Photo by Dave Caulkin (Associated Press)



From Yahoo! Sports;
Martina behind Anne Jones (left) and Evonne Goolagong



From the BBC website;
Martina chatting with Jana Novotna

CREDITS:

All rights belong exclusively to the above mentioned photographers and/or websites.

Note: The ivy lines I used in this page come from "Pat's Web Graphics", which I thank and link here below....

Click here to visit Pat's Web Graphics...