Dorothea Lambert Chambers
Full name | Dorothea Katherine Douglass Lambert Chambers |
---|---|
Country (sports) | United Kingdom |
Born | (1878-09-03)3 September 1878 Ealing, Middlesex, England |
Died | 7 January 1960(1960-01-07) (aged 81) Kensington, London, England |
Int. Tennis HoF | 1981 (member page) |
Singles | |
Grand Slam singles results | |
Wimbledon | W (1903, 1904, 1906, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914) |
US Open | QF (1925) |
Doubles | |
Grand Slam doubles results | |
Wimbledon | F (1913, 1919, 1920) |
Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
Wimbledon | F (1919) |
Team competitions | |
Wightman Cup | W (1925) |
Dorothea Lambert Chambers (née Dorothea Katherine Douglass; 3 September 1878 – 7 January 1960)[1] was a British tennis player. She won seven Wimbledon women's singles titles and a gold medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics.[2]
Tennis
In 1900, Douglass made her singles debut at Wimbledon, and after a bye in the first round, lost her second-round match to Louisa Martin. Three years later, she won her first of seven ladies singles titles. On 6 April 1907, she married Robert Lambert Chambers and became known by her married surname Lambert Chambers.[3][4]
In 1908, she won the gold medal in the women's singles event at the 1908 Summer Olympics after a straight-sets victory in the final against compatriot Dora Boothby.[5]
She wrote Tennis for Ladies, published in 1910. The book contained photographs of tennis techniques and contained advice on attire and equipment.[citation needed]
In 1911, Lambert Chambers won the women's final at Wimbledon against Dora Boothby 6–0, 6–0, the first player to win a Grand Slam singles final without losing a game.[6] The only other female player to achieve this was Steffi Graf when she defeated Natalia Zvereva in the 1988 French Open final.[7]
In 1919, Lambert Chambers played the longest Wimbledon final up to that time: 44 games against Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen. Lambert Chambers held two match points at 6–5 in the third set but eventually lost to Lenglen 8–10, 6–4, 7–9.[8]
Lambert Chambers only played sporadic singles after 1921 but continued to compete in doubles until 1927. She made the singles quarterfinals of the U.S. Championships in 1925,[9] and from 1924 to 1926, she captained Britain's Wightman Cup team. In the 1925 Wightman Cup, she played, at the age of 46, a singles (against Eleanor Goss) and doubles match and won both.[10][11] In 1928 she turned to professional coaching.
Lambert Chambers posthumously was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1981.[12] She died in Kensington, London in 1960, aged 81.
Grand Slam finals
Singles: 11 (7 titles, 4 runner-ups)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win * | 1903 | Wimbledon | Grass | Ethel Thomson | 4–6, 6–4, 6–2 |
Win | 1904 | Wimbledon (2) | Grass | Charlotte Cooper Sterry | 6–0, 6–3 |
Loss | 1905 | Wimbledon | Grass | May Sutton | 3–6, 4–6 |
Win | 1906 | Wimbledon (3) | Grass | May Sutton | 6–3, 9–7 |
Loss | 1907 | Wimbledon | Grass | May Sutton | 1–6, 4–6 |
Win | 1910 | Wimbledon (4) | Grass | Dora Boothby | 6–2, 6–2 |
Win | 1911 | Wimbledon (5) | Grass | Dora Boothby | 6–0, 6–0 |
Win ** | 1913 | Wimbledon (6) | Grass | Winifred McNair | 6–0, 6–4 |
Win | 1914 | Wimbledon (7) | Grass | Ethel Thomson Larcombe | 7–5, 6–4 |
Loss | 1919 | Wimbledon | Grass | Suzanne Lenglen | 8–10, 6–4, 7–9 |
Loss | 1920 | Wimbledon | Grass | Suzanne Lenglen | 3–6, 0–6 |
* This was the all-comers final as Muriel Robb did not defend her 1902 Wimbledon title, which resulted in the winner of the all-comers final winning the challenge round, and thus, Wimbledon in 1903 by walkover.
** This was the all-comers final as Ethel Thomson Larcombe did not defend her 1912 Wimbledon title, which resulted in the winner of the all-comers final winning the challenge round and, thus, Wimbledon in 1913 by walkover.
Doubles: 3 runner-ups
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 1913 | Wimbledon | Grass | Charlotte Cooper Sterry | Dora Boothby Winifred McNair | 6–4, 4–2, ret. |
Loss | 1919 | Wimbledon | Grass | Ethel Thomson Larcombe | Suzanne Lenglen Elizabeth Ryan | 6–4, 5–7, 3–6 |
Loss | 1920 | Wimbledon | Grass | Ethel Thomson Larcombe | Suzanne Lenglen Elizabeth Ryan | 4–6, 0–6 |
Mixed doubles: 1 runner-up
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 1919 | Wimbledon | Grass | Albert Prebble | Elizabeth Ryan Randolph Lycett | 0–6, 0–6 |
Career finals
Singles titles (64)
- Notes: Incomplete list she reportedly won 81 singles titles.
Badminton
In addition to playing tennis, Lambert Chambers was one of the leading badminton players at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1903, 1904 and 1907, she was the runner-up at the singles event of the All England Badminton Championships.[13]
Personal life
During the First World War, she undertook war work, first at Ealing Hospital, and later at the Little Theatre.[14] She married Robert Lambert Chambers, nephew of John Graham Chambers.
References
- ^ Grasso, John (16 September 2011). Historical Dictionary of Tennis. Scarecrow Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-8108-7237-0.
- ^ "Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 6 February 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
- ^ Hartley, Cathy, ed. (2003). A Historical Dictionary of British Women (Rev. ed.). London [u.a.]: Europa Publications. p. 194. ISBN 978-1857432282.
- ^ "Men and Matters". Dundee Courier. 8 April 1907. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
- ^ Dorothea Lambert Chambers at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
- ^ ROBIN HERMAN (5 June 1988). "TENNIS – Graf Shuts Out Zvereva to Gain French Open Title". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
- ^ "Ladies' Lawn Tennis". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 June 1911. p. 7 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Encyclopædia Britannica Biography". Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ "British Women in Tennis Victories". The Montreal Gazette. 18 August 1925 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ "Woman at Tennis". The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 August 1925 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ "Hall of Famers – Dorothea Douglass Chambers". www.tennisfame.com. International Tennis Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
- ^ "Mrs Lambert Chambers". Badminton England. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
- ^ The Sportswoman's Page, The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 22 December 1917, p. 508
External links
- Dorothea Lambert Chambers at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
- Works by Lambert Chambers at Project Gutenberg
- Book Lawn Tennis for Ladies at Archive.org
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- 1906: Dorothea Lambert Chambers
- 1907: May Sutton
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- 1910: Dorothea Lambert Chambers
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- 1914: Dorothea Lambert Chambers
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