• July 4 down the years

A good day for Brits at Wimbledon

Ann Jones was 30 when she won the Wimbledon title for the first time © Getty Images

Enlarge

A popular day for Wimbledon tennis finals. Especially for a couple of British women.

Ann Jones (born 17 October 1938) got there step by step. By the time she won the singles in 1969, she'd lost in six semi-finals and the 1967 final. That was the second of Billie Jean King's three consecutive titles. She beat Jones in the 1968 semis and looked set likely to make it four titles in a row when she took the first set in today's final. But Jones was always a fighter, and at 30 she knew this was probably her last chance. Armed with a new metal racquet which gave her extra power, she saved two break points that would have left her 2-0 down in the second set. It was a classic turning point. As Jones played increasingly fluently, King held only two of her last eight service games. Jones saved three more break points in her first two service games of the final set - and King had nothing left after that, winning only five points in three games to go 5-1 down. On match point, she double-faulted to hand over the title 6-2. Jones was the first left-hander to win the women's singles. And she went out right at the top: this was her last Grand Slam singles match.

In 1914, Dorothea Chambers won the women's singles title for the seventh time, a record that lasted until Wills Moody deigned to come over in 1938 (2 July). A truly formidable baseliner with a forehand that matched her jutting jaw, Dolly Chambers beat all the best players of her generation, including Wimbledon's first overseas winner May Sutton. She was champion for the first time in 1903 and took the 1911 Final 6-0 6-0. Today she had to play well to retain her title against the 1912 champion Ethel Larcombe, who was also a multiple All-England badminton champion. Chambers won 7-5 6-4 and would have added to her total but for the First World War.

Also in 1914, Norman Brookes of Australia regained the men's title after seven years. The first left-hander to win a Wimbledon singles title and the first overseas player to win the men's, he was one of the all-time greats - but his opponent in the Challenge Round seemed to have all the advantages. New Zealand's Tony Wilding was an early tennis heart-throb, handsome and dashing. He was also taller and five years younger than Brookes, who was 36 by now. And Wilding had been champion for the past four years. But it turned out he'd only been keeping the throne warm. Brookes and Wilding won the Wimbledon doubles in 1907, did the same this year, and won the Davis Cup for Australasia four times. But their match today was master against nervous pupil. Wilding had any number of openings for easy passing shots, but missed the lines time and again. And he didn't come forward to take the net away from a superior volleyer. This was something Wilding had done in retaining the title the previous year against the 'Californian Comet' Maurice McLoughlin - but he seemed paralysed today. Brookes served strongly and won in straight sets. It was the last Wimbledon before the War. Brookes was back to defend the title after it, losing the Challenge Round at the age of 41. But Wilding was killed in action.

'Are you looking at my titles?' That was the slogan on Serena Williams's t-shirt after winning Wimbledon in 2009. For the fourth time, the final was a sister act. They came through contrasting semis. Making Dinara Safina No.1 seed was always risky where the Williams ruled, and sure enough she was embarrassed 6-1 6-0 by Venus. But Serena had to save a match point in overcoming Elena Dimitrieva 6-7 7-5 8-6. The practice seemed to do her good: in the final, the power of her shots was too much for big sis. When Venus lost the first set on a tie-break, it was the first she'd dropped at Wimbledon since 2006. Serena won the second 6-2 on her fourth match point. Only one Wimbledon singles final in that decade didn't feature one of the sisters. Or both.

2010
Rafael Nadal moved level with Andre Agassi in the all-time list of grand slam winners after he secured his eighth major title at Wimbledon. Like Agassi, Nadal was built for court coverage and he had the two-handed backhand to match his American counterpart. By contrast, Nadal's opponent in the final was Tomas Berdych, a man blessed with a big serve and booming forehand, who lacked in the agility department. In fairness to Berdych, he had dismissed world No. 1 Roger Federer and world No. 3 Novak Djokovic en route to the final, but he had little answer to Nadal, who lifted the Wimbledon title for the second time with a 6-3 7-5 6-4 victory.

2004
Australian doubles maestro Todd Woodbridge won the Wimbledon title for a record ninth time, breaking the record he shared with two brothers who won their eighth nearly 100 years earlier (7 July). Woodbridge won six of his titles with fellow Oz Mark Woodforde. Today he and Sweden's Jonas Björkman won it for the third year in a row, beating Julian Knowle of Austria and Serbian Nenad Zimonjić in four sets.

1980
The first mother to win the Wimbledon singles since Chambers in 1914. Evonne Goolagong (born 31 July 1951) was Evonne Cawley by now. She'd won the title as a 19-year-old breath of fresh air in 1971, lost two finals to a ruthless Billie Jean King and another to today's opponent Chris Evert, who was also married to an Englishman, tennis player John Lloyd. Evert Lloyd had lost the last two Finals to Martina Navrátilová and she lost again this time. Goolagong Cawley played beautifully to win the first set 6-1, kept her concentration (she was famous for losing it) during an hour-long break for rain, but lost a 3-0 lead before winning the second set on a tie-break. Her gap of nine years between Wimbledon singles titles equalled Bill Tilden's record set in 1930 (5 July).

1931
The only walkover in a Wimbledon final. Actually it was just the last of many. In the days when defending champions didn't play in the tournament but waited for the winner to come through and face them, many didn't defend the title. But the Challenge Round was abolished in 1922, and this was the only time since then that anyone pulled out of a final. Frank Shields was the game's heart-throb at the time, the tall dark and handsome grandad of actress Brooke Shields, who married Andre Agassi. In his semi-final against the veteran Jean Borotra, Shields fell and injured his knee. He limped through a doubles match the following day, which cost him his chance of the bigger prize, which went to 19-year-old fellow American Sidney Wood. It was the only Grand Slam singles title either of them ever won.

2009
Deserved consolation for the British & Irish Lions. After losing the series so heart-breakingly on 27 June, they beat South Africa 28-9 in Johannesburg. Shane Williams scored two tries on one wing, Ugo Monye ran 80 yards for an interception try one on the other, and Stephen Jones kicked goals as always.

Some famous old heavyweight title fights took place today. And one featuring Joe Bugner.

Jack Johnson was the first black boxer to win the world heavyweight title © Getty Images

Enlarge

1910
Jack Johnson becoming the first black boxer to win the world heavyweight title (Boxing Day 1908) was a famous landmark, of course - but today's fight was the real icon. Johnson had no credible challengers. He'd even been matched with hard-hitting middleweight champ Stanley Ketchel (16 October 1909), which turned into a futile exercise. So the call went out: home, James. Jim Jeffries had won the title in 1899 and made his last defence in 1904 before retiring undefeated as a professional. He'd been happily putting on shedloads of weight on his alfalfa farm, and a return to face Johnson was the last thing he wanted. But appeals were made to his pride in his colour, and the money was too good to turn down. So he told the world he was coming back to regain the title for the white race, and set about getting into some sort of shape. He succeeded too, looking trim and solid in the ring. But big Jim was 35 by now, he hadn't fought for nearly six years, and he'd only ever been world champion because he outweighed more skilful opponents. Today he was up against someone who was as big as him and infinitely more talented. He hardly landed a punch on Johnson, who smiled his way through the fight, to infuriate the racist crowd and at the thought of his bank balance, which was upped by the first $100,000 fee in boxing. Johnson won as he liked, but it took nearly 15 rounds because Jeffries had great courage if nothing else. Battered and exhausted, he was trying to get up at the end. The result provoked violence throughout America, with attacks on rejoicing black fans. The most significant Independence Day in sport.

Big Jess Willard finally won the title back for White America by outlasting an ageing Johnson in 1915 (5 April). Today in 1919 he defended it against a young Jack Dempsey, who'd built a reputation in a whirlwind knockout tour of the country, but wasn't universally expected to win. It was mainly a matter of size. Although Dempsey was perfectly average for a heavyweight of that time at 6' 1 and over 13 stone, Willard was a giant, six inches taller than Dempsey and more than five stone heavier. Even Dempsey had doubts: "I wasn't agitated, I was downright scared." But big Jess was 37 by now and had never been a fighting man. He came into boxing late and stayed in only for the money. Meanwhile Dempsey was a classic hungry fighter who punched his weight and then some. His manager Jack Kearns bet their entire share of the purse on a first-round knockout, so Dempsey set about trying to achieve it. Poor Willard was knocked down seven times. When he was dragged back to the corner, Dempsey thought he'd won the bet and left the ring - only to be pushed back in a hurry when it transpired that Willard had been saved (if you can call it that) by the bell. He lasted into the third round before losing his title, showing the same bravery as Jeffries in taking punishment that left him with a broken nose, cheekbone, and ribs. He made a surprise comeback four years later but lost to a man who knocked Dempsey through the ropes (14 September 1923).

Four years later to the day, Dempsey and Kearns bankrupted an entire town. They persuaded Shelby, an oil-drilling community in Montana with a population of 2,500, to stage Dempsey's defence against Tommy Gibbons. For a town of this size to stage a world heavyweight title fight was plain lunacy. It had a grand total of one hotel and three rooming houses, and the unranked Gibbons was no kind of draw. Soon after the fight, the oil dried up and Shelby's population dwindled. Nevertheless, they guaranteed Dempsey $300,000 while Gibbons got only his expenses, essentially paying for his shot at the title. When local backers couldn't raise the last $200,000, Kearns had to settle for the gate money. A crowd of 6,000 wasn't much, but it gave Dempsey an extra $132,000. He won easily enough on points. Everyone else lost.

1998
Joe Bugner was 48 by the time he won a thing called the WBF heavyweight title when 43-year-old James 'Bonecrusher' Smith injured his shoulder (but didn't crush a bone) in the first round. A farce in every sense. Bugner fought for a real world title in 1975 (30 June), the Bonecrusher for the first time in 1984.

1993
The last French driver to win the French Grand Prix. This was the eighth race of the Formula 1 season and the first in which Alain Prost didn't start on pole. Second on the grid behind Damon Hill, he overtook him during a pit stop and held him off by less than half a second. It was the sixth time Prost won the race, a record before Michael Schumacher (16 July 2006), and he went on to take the world title that year for the fourth and last time.

1914
The most famous international match in rugby league history. Nicknamed the Rorke's Drift Test after the famous siege in the Zulu Wars, it was an Ashes decider. With interest in the series at a high, the New South Wales board brought the match forward to cash in on it. The Great Britain officials protested that they had only seven fit men left, but people were listening to cash registers. At the Sydney Cricket Ground, GB's patched-up team lost a man almost immediately, winger Frank Williams injuring his leg. Then Douglas Clark broke his thumb. Somehow the 11 fit men led 9-3 at half-time, Percy McColdrick scoring a try and Alf Wood kicking three goals. But then Clark broke his collarbone, and when Billy Hall was concussed, Great Britain were left with nine players against 13 - and half an hour still to go. So they tackled. Then tackled some more. Pinned in their own half, usually on their own line, they broke out only once, when their famous captain Harold Wagstaff (born 19 May 1891) set up John 'Chick' Johnson to dribble half the length of the field. Australia scored another try too, but GB held out to win 14-6. Hats off. There was a similar match between the two countries in 1958 (5 July).

1962
Pam Shriver was born in Baltimore. Only 16 when she reached the US Open Final in 1978, she didn't kick on in singles but became one of the most successful doubles players, especially with Martina Navrátilová. They won Wimbledon five times (part of their 21 Grand Slam titles, including all four in 1984) and an amazing 109 matches in a row. Tall and skilled at the net, Shriver also won gold with Zina Garrison at the 1988 Olympic Games, beating top Czechoslovakians Jana Novotná and Helena Suková 10-8 in the deciding set on their sixth match point. Shriver married and divorced Australian actor George Lazenby, who was 23 years older. He played James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

© ESPN EMEA LTD