Margaret Court

Margaret Court

Margaret Court won 24 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any player in the history of the game, and eleven of them came after tennis went open in 1968, the span this site's records cover. Her home major was practically her own: eleven Australian titles, including seven in a row through the 1960s. The summit was 1970, when she won all four majors in a calendar year, a Grand Slam only Maureen Connolly had managed before her, and closed out Billie Jean King 14-12, 11-9 in a Wimbledon final for the ages.

Born in Albury, New South Wales, she built her game on reach and raw athleticism. Court was among the first women to train with weights and circuit work, and the fitness fed a relentless serve and volley attack that smothered opponents at the net. The rivalries ran through King and a young Evonne Goolagong, who took the 1971 Wimbledon final from her. She retired in 1977 with a body of work no one has passed since.