Email to a friend | Print this | PDF version | Comments (0 posted)    Blogger |   del.icio.us |   digg |   newsvine

Jun 01,2007
Britain shocked by 1st US Wimbledon champ
by CNS

Britain shocked by 1st US Wimbledon champ May Godfrey Sutton (1886-1975) became the first American woman to win the singles championship at Wimbledon when she beat British star and reigning two-time Wimbledon champion Dorothea Douglass 6-3, 6-4 in 1905. Her victory captured the imagination of the US press and shocked the very proper British audience. It was not Sutton’s powerful topspin forehand that the British and US public found so intriguing, though, it was her attire. Just for years removed from the end of the Victorian era, Sutton dared to roll up her sleeves to bare her elbows and wear a skirt that showed her ankles.