In remembrance of Angela Mortimer Barrett, Wimbledon champion and Hall of Famer

A three-time major singles champion, Angela Mortimer Barrett rose to No. 1 in the world, helped redefine British women’s tennis, and became an enduring figure in the sport’s history.

The WTA is saddened by the death of British tennis star Angela Mortimer Barrett, the longest surviving Wimbledon women’s singles champion. She died Aug. 25 at 93.

During her Hall of Fame career, Mortimer won singles titles at three of the four majors and spent most of the 1950s in the world’s Top 10, rising to No.1 after her signature triumph at Wimbledon in 1961. Among the 40 or so titles collected across the sport’s disciplines, she also won the doubles at Wimbledon in 1955, with fellow Brit Anne Shilcock.

Renowned as a wily baseliner, Mortimer famously played in shorts -- even influential fashion designer Teddy Tinling couldn’t convince her to change her style. In the end, Tinling introduced a line of shorts and Mortimer would later work for him.

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Another kind of trait that set Mortimer apart but became something of a competitive weapon: She was partially deaf.

“I could hear the applause of the crowd, but not much else,” she once said. “I think it helped me concentrate, shutting out distractions. When I hear players say they need to hear the ball, I smile. I couldn’t.”

With her victory at the French Championships in 1955, Mortimer became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since 1937. She ventured to Australia just once, in 1968, but the journey brought her second major, in addition to finals in both the doubles and mixed doubles. She also played only sporadically at the U.S. Championships, her best result being a semifinal run in 1961.

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In total, Mortimer reached five major singles finals, falling to Althea Gibson in Paris in 1956 -- the great American’s first Grand Slam title -- and Wimbledon in 1958. Other illustrious contemporaries included Maureen Connolly, Doris Hart, Darlene Hard and Margaret Dupont.

But it is thanks to her three-set defeat of younger countrywoman Christine Truman in the first all-British women’s final at Wimbledon in 47 years that Mortimer, who was the No.7 seed, is immortalized in bronze on the grounds of the All England Club.

Her prize: a £20 voucher to spend on tennis-related items.

Born in Plymouth, Cornwall on April 21, 1932, Mortimer didn’t take up tennis until she was 15. She learned the game with coach Arthur Roberts on the indoor court of the Palace Hotel at Torquay, a nearby resort on England’s south coast.

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Appropriately, Mortimer played her last tournament back at Torquay in 1962, defeating Ann Haydon Jones in the final. Her autobiography, “My Waiting Game,” was published soon after. Having been a member of the victorious Wightman Cup team in 1960, Mortimer returned to captain the squad from 1964 until 1970 and she also served as captain of the British Fed Cup team for four years.

In 1967, Mortimer was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to Lawn Tennis, and she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993.

“I feel sorry for some of the present-day players,” she said at the time. “The rewards are much greater, but they don't seem to enjoy playing as much as we did.”

In 2020, the women’s 85 and over category of the annual ITF Seniors World Team Championships was renamed the Angela Mortimer Cup.

Mortimer is survived by her husband, celebrated broadcaster and former Davis Cup player John Barrett, their son, Michael, daughter, Sarah Jane, and their families.

The Barretts are one of only two married couples in the Hall of Fame for their individual achievements, along with Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf.

Haydon Jones (1969) and Virginia Wade (1977) are now the only living British female Wimbledon champions.

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