In 1977, the year in which Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Silver Jubilee, Virginia Wade was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY), beating cricketer Geoffrey Boycott and motorcycle racer Barry Sheene into second and third place, respectively, in a poll of readers of the ‘Radio Times’. Accepting the trophy from Prince Michael of Kent, she said, “I think this is the trophy that every sportsman or woman in this country longs to win win and I can’t be happier to have won it. I think it’s wonderful that Prince Michael is here, because his family have all been such popular followers of our game, tennis.”
Aside from the Silver Jubilee, 1977 was also a historic year insofar as it marked the centenary of the Wimbledon Championships, so Wade chose a good time to win her first, and only, ladies’ singles title at the All England Tennis Club after 16 attempts. Indeed, at the time of writing, she remains the last British woman to win a singles title, not only at Wimbledon, but at any Grand Slam tournament.
Wade, herself, has already won the US Open in 1968, beating Billie Jean King in straight sets in the final, and the Australian Open in 1972, beating Evonne Goolagong in similar fashion. However, she was a beaten semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 1974, a beaten quarter-finalist in 1975, and a beaten semi-finalist again in 1976, so the most famous victory of her career could also be viewed as completion of unfinished business.
Wade did not drop a set until the semi-final, in which she nonetheless beat top seed, and defending champion, Chris Evert 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to set up a final with seventh seed Betty Stove. Evert later remarked, “I could see it in her eyes that she really wanted to win.” In the final, Stove won the first set, 6-4, but at 3-3 in the second Wade began her fightback and, playing some of the best tennis of her career, gradually took control of the match. She eventually prevailed 4–6, 6–3, 6–1 and said later, “It was like a fairy-tale, with everyone cheering for the Queen and cheering for me.”