Phyllis King

Phyllis Evelyn King , née Mudford (born August 23, 1905 in Wallington , † January 27, 2006 in Horley , Surrey ), was a British tennis player .

Her tennis career began as a teenager at the Horley Lawn Tennis Club in Surrey , but did not take part in amateur tournaments until she was 20.

She celebrated her greatest success in 1931 at Wimbledon . With her partner Dorothy Shepherd-Barron , she defeated the fourth-placed double Metaxa / Sigart in a close match with 3: 6, 6: 3 and 6: 4. The success came as a surprise because the two were not seeded. Her performance was rewarded with a gold medal and a shopping voucher worth 10 pounds. However, the money should be spent on a worthy luxury item rather than a simple household item. Mudford saved this and other vouchers and later bought something from Harrods .

With Elsie Goldsack Pitman she succeeded again in the finals in 1937, but both were defeated 3: 6 3: 6 against Simonne Mathieu and Billie Yorke .

In individual cases, however, she had less reason to celebrate: With a total of 16 Wimbledon appearances, she only reached the quarter-finals in 1930. The last time King stood on the green turf at the All England Championships was in 1953, shortly before her 48th birthday. At the US Open she reached the semifinals in 1931 and 1935. Her highest single placement in the world rankings was 7th.

For Great Britain she took part in the Wightman Cup games against the USA in 1930, 1931, 1932, 1935 and 1938 . She led the British team to victory in 1938 as team captain.

King has been a member of the All England Club since 1948 . Her husband Maurice died of emphysema in 1959 and the couple had no children. Until her 1980s she played tennis privately. Most recently she lived as the oldest living Wimbledon winner in Horley (Surrey), where she died at the old age of 100.