Blanche Hillyard

Blanche Bingley Hillyard was an English tennis player who competed in the earliest days of the sport, and is celebrated for winning six singles titles at the Wimbledon Championships.

She also holds the record for the most Wimbledon finals appearances by a woman, with 13 in total.

Player Profile and Personal Life

Blanche Bingley Hillyard was born on November 3, 1863, in Greenford, England, UK. She was the daughter of a wealthy tailoring business proprietor and was a member of the Ealing Lawn Tennis & Archery Club. She played right-handed.

In July 1887, just one week after the Wimbledon final, she married Commander George Whiteside Hillyard. Her husband was also a professional tennis player who later became the secretary of the All England Lawn Tennis Club and director of The Championships at Wimbledon for an extended period.

Bingley Hillyard passed away at her home in Pulborough, West Sussex, in 1946.

Professional Career

Bingley Hillyard's tennis career spanned almost 30 years, beginning with her participation in the first-ever Wimbledon Championships for women in 1884.

Two years later, in 1886, she captured the first of her six singles titles at Wimbledon. Her last victory came in 1900, a remarkable 14-year time span between her first and last titles, which remains a record. She was also a seven-time losing finalist at Wimbledon, and her total of 13 finals appearances is a record that still stands today.

Her career was marked by a friendly rivalry with Lottie Dod, who defeated her in five of those finals. Bingley Hillyard continued to compete until the age of 49, playing her last Wimbledon in 1913.

Outside of Wimbledon, she won numerous other tournaments that were considered major events at the time. She won the Irish Championships three times, the German International Championships twice, and the South of England Championships at Eastbourne an impressive eleven times between 1885 and 1905.

She also won the Sussex Championships in Brighton five times and the London Championships at Stamford Bridge three times. For her contributions and achievements in the sport, she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.

Career Record

Singles

• Career titles: 58

Best Grand Slam Singles Performances

• Wimbledon – W (1886, 1889, 1894, 1897, 1899, 1900)