The 8 women to win Wimbledon more than once in the Open Era: Martina Navratilova at No 1
Wimbledon 2024 will mark the 56th edition of the tournament in the Open Era, but did you know that only eight women have won the title more than once since tennis turned professional in 1968?
The great Billie Jean King was the first player to achieve the feat while Petra Kvitova is the most recent player to join the list.
Although Margaret Court won three Wimbledon titles, she lifted two of those titles before the Open Era started with only one coming after 1968.
In case you were wondering, Angelique Kerber, Elena Rybakina and reigning champion Markata Vondrousova are the only active players who could just this list after the Wimbledon 2024.
=7. Evonne Goolagong and Petra Kvitova – 2 titles
Evonne Goolagong
Just a few weeks after winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open, the great Goolagong completed the Channel Slam as she defeated Margaret Court in the Wimbledon final.
She finished runner-up in three Wimbledon finals before landing her second and final title at SW19 in 1980, this time getting the better of Chris Evert in the showpiece match.
Petra Kvitova
Kvitova reached her maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon in 2011 and she went all the way as she upset Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the final.
Three years later she reached her second final at the All England Club, taking on Canadian Eugenie Bouchard and again she came out on top in two sets.
6. Chris Evert – 3 titles
Three of Chris Evert’s 18 Grand Slam titles were won at SW19 with the first coming as part of the Channel Slam in 1974 as she also won the French Open that year.
After beating Olga Morozova in the Roland Garros final, Evert completed the double over her as she also beat the Russian/Soviet player at the All England Club.
She became a two-time winner two years later as she beat Goolagong in the final while she lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish for a third time in 1981, this time getting the better of Hana Mandlikova.
The 12 men to win Wimbledon more than once in the Open Era: Roger Federer at No 1. Will Carlos Alcaraz join the list?
The 9 WTA players with the best grass-court records: Serena Williams 2nd, Steffi Graf 4th
The 10 women with the most grass-court titles: Martina Navratilova 3rd, Serena Williams joint-7th
5. Billie Jean King – 4 titles
The legendary Billie Jean King actually won a hat-trick of Wimbledon titles, but the 1966 and 1967 trophies were lifted before the Open Era started.
She won her first Wimbledon trophy in the professional era in 1968 as she beat Judy Tegart-Dalton in the final.
King then finished runner-up in the 69 and 70 finals before winning her second title in the Open Era in 1972 with a win over Goolagong. The American defeated Evert in the 1973 final and Goolagong in 1975.
4. Venus Williams – 5 titles
The great Venus Williams pipped sister Serena Williams to a first title at Wimbledon as she won the 2000 edition after beating Serena in the semi-final and Lindsay Davenport in the final.
Venus successfully defended her title the following year, this time getting the better of Justine Henin in the showpiece match.
After finishing runner-up to Serena in 2002 and 2003, she lifted her third Venus Rosewater Dish in 2005 – again beating Davenport – before winning back-to-back ones again in 2007 and 2008.
Venus finished runner-up four times – three times against Serena and Garbine Muguruza.
=2. Steffi Graf and Serena Williams – 7 titles
Steffi Graf
For a while, it looked like Steffi Graf would go past the all-time record of nine, but she came up short in the end.
Graf was already a three-time Grand Slam winner when she finally won her maiden Wimbledon title in 1988, beating Martina Navratilova in a three-set final. Her Wimbledon crown formed part of her historic Golden Slam that year as she also won the Australian Open, French Open, US Open and Olympics.
She successfully defended her Wimbledon crown in 1989 again beating Navratilova in the final.
The German then won three in a row from 1991 to 1993 with Gabriela Sabatini, Monica Seles and Jana Novotná the beaten finalists.
After a break in 1994, she won back-to-back finals against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1995 and 1996 to take her tally to seven.
She had a chance to finish on eight, but finished runner-up to Davenport in her last Grand Slam final appearance in 1999.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams won her third Grand Slam and first Wimbledon title in 2002 when she beat sister Venus in two sets in the final. The following year she joined the elite group to successfully defend their titles as she again defeated Venus.
Maria Sharapova denied her a hat-trick as the Russian won the 2004 final and Williams had to wait another four years before reaching another final and she was again runner-up as Venus beat her.
Her luck changed in 2009 as she defeated Venus in the final and the following year she was too good for Vera Zvonareva.
In 2012 she got the better of Agnieszka Radwańska in the final before beating Garbine Muguruza in the 2015 final and Angelique Kerber in the 2016 final.
After giving birth to her first child in 2017, Williams appeared in back-to-back finals in 2018 and 2019 but lost against Kerber and Simona Halep.
1. Martina Navratilova – 9 titles
The greatest-ever champion at Wimbledon, Martina Navratilova appeared in 12 finals at the All England Club, winning nine of them. She also won seven women’s doubles titles and four mixed doubles titles at SW19.
Spare a thought for Chris Evert as she finished runner-up to Navratilova in the singles on five occasions.
Navratilova won her first title in 1978 and came back the following year to successfully defend her crown. After two semi-final exits in 1980 and 1981, the tennis great went on to dominate as she won six in a row from 1982 to 1987.
She then lost back-to-back finals against Graf before winning her ninth and final title against Zina Garrison in 1990.
Conchita Martínez denied her a perfect 10 as the Spaniard defeated Navratilova in the 1994 final.
