The 6 American women to win Wimbledon in the Open Era: Can Amanda Anisimova end nine-year wait?

Oli Dickson Jefford 11 Jul 2025 2:45 PM

L-R: Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, and Venus Williams.

Pictured: Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, and Venus Williams.

Amanda Anisimova is through to her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, and she will be looking to end a nine-year wait for an American champion at the All England Club.

The 23-year-old impressed in her stunning semi-final win over Aryna Sabalenka and, should she defeat Iga Swiatek, would join an esteemed list of US champions at SW19.

Here, we look at the six US women to have won the Wimbledon title in the Open Era.

Billie Jean King – 1968, 1972-73, 1975

King had won two Wimbledon titles as an amateur before becoming the first woman to lift the title in the Open Era with victory over Judy Tegart-Dalton in the 1968 final.

After back-to-back final defeats in 1969 and 1970, King regained her title with victory over Evonne Goolagong in 1972 and successfully defended her title after defeating Chris Evert in 1973.

The tennis icon claimed her final Grand Slam singles title at the All England Club in 1975, again downing Goolagong to triumph.

Chris Evert – 1974, 1976, 1981

Evert won a staggering 18 Grand Slam titles across her career, with three of them coming at the All England Club.

The former world No 1 lifted her first Wimbledon title in 1974, beating Olga Morozova in the final, and two years later downed Goolagong in a three-set thriller to triumph for a second time.

Evert then regained her title with a victory over Hana Mandlikova in the 1981 final, though she reached a further seven finals at the tournament.

Martina Navratilova – 1978-79, 1982-87, 1990

Though Navratilova was Czech-born, she represented the US throughout most of her professional career, including for all nine of her Wimbledon triumphs.

Navratilova beat leading rival Evert to lift her first two titles in 1978 and 1979, and again beat her fellow great to seal her third title in 1982.

That started a run of six straight triumphs for her, beating Andrea Jaeger in 1983, Evert in 1984 and 1985, Mandlikova in 1986, and Steffi Graf in 1987.

After defeats to Graf in 1988 and 1989, Navratilova defeated Zina Garrison for her final title in 1990, though she also reached the final in 1994.

Lindsay Davenport – 1999

Almost a decade after Navratilova’s final triumph, Davenport rounded off the decade and the century by becoming the fourth US woman in the Open Era to lift the title.

Davenport ended the surprise run of qualifier Alexandra Stevenson to reach the final, where she defeated seven-time champion Graf, in her last major final, in straight sets to triumph.

The American would go on to reach further finals in 2000 and 2005, and won three major singles titles overall.

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Venus Williams – 2000-01, 2005, 2007-08

Tennis icon Venus found herself at home at the All England Club, winning five of her seven Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon.

Venus beat reigning champion Davenport in the 2000 final to lift her first Slam title, and defended her title in 2001 with a three-set win over Justine Henin.

After losing finals in 2002 and 2003, she regained her title with an epic triumph over Davenport in 2005, before defeating Marion Bartoli in 2007 and sister Serena in 2008; she attained further runner-up finishes in 2009 and 2017.

Serena Williams – 2002-03, 2009-10, 2012, 2015-16

Serena won seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon, making it the joint-most successful major of her career.

She defeated sister Venus to lift her first SW19 singles title in 2002, and again beat Venus to triumph for a second time in 2003.

After losing the 2004 and 2008 finals, Serena regained her title by again beating her sister in 2009, and made it four titles with a dominant win over Vera Zvonareva in the 2010 final.

Serena’s fifth title came in 2012 with victory over Agnieszka Radwanska, before triumphs over Garbine Muguruza in 2015 and Angelique Kerber in 2016; she finished as the runner-up in 2018 and 2019.