Truly the most obvious knock on Court as a GOAT candidate is not her Aussie success, or her politics, but the paltry number of Wimbledon singles trophies she walked away with and I want to know where they disappeared to. I thought we should look at it more closely. This we know. One of the absolute greatest players and specifically grass court players to play the sport, played singles 12 years between 1961-1975. She won 3 times, and was only a runner up two others. We will go year by year using Wiki.
1961: Court # 2, beat 2 unseated players before losing to #6 Truman in the QF who went on the final.
1962: Court # 1, lost in 2nd round to unseeded Billie Jean Moffit, who lost in the QF.
1963: Court # 1, beat # 8 Schuurman and #4 Darleen Hard, then unseeded Moffit to win her first title
1964: Court # 1, beat 4 unseeded players, then #3 seed Moffit, before losing to #2 Bueno in the final
1965:Court # 2, beat 5 unseeded players ( including Truman in the semis), then #1 Bueno to win her 2nd title
1966: Court #1, beat 4 unseeded players, lost to #4 and eventual champion BJK in the SF
1967: Court absent
1968: Court #2, beat 3 unseeded players, lost to #7 Tegart in the QF, who lost in the semis
1969: Court #1, beat 3 unseeded players, then beat # 7 Heldman before losing to #4 Jones in the SF, who went on to win
1970: Court #1, beat 3 unseeded players, then # 8 Neisson, #5 Casals, and #2 BJK to win her 3rd title ( the final was seen as one of the most dramatic in Womens singles history)
1971: Court #1, beat 5 unseeded players, then lost to #3 champion Goolagong in the final,
1972: Court absent
1973: Court # 1, beat 3 unseeded players, then #8 Morozova, then lost to # 4 Evert in the SF.
1974: Court absent
1975: Court # 5 (lowest seeding ever) beat 4 unseeded players, then # 2 Navratilova, then lost to #4 runner-up Goolagong in the SF.
She won 3, runner-up twice, SF four times, QF twice, and lost in Rd 2 once. Her Career w/l average was 85.10% (51–9). She lost to a lower seed 8 times, beat a higher seed two times. Of course in 1975 she did both and I think that is the one of two years she clearly exceeded expectations. The other is probably 1970 when she was so injured despite her seeding ,it was a surprise she got to the final.
While she was only once upset in an early round by an unseeded nobody ( that four eyed short girl Moffit), Margaret definitely underperformed compared to expectations most of the time.
1961: Court # 2, beat 2 unseated players before losing to #6 Truman in the QF who went on the final.
1962: Court # 1, lost in 2nd round to unseeded Billie Jean Moffit, who lost in the QF.
1963: Court # 1, beat # 8 Schuurman and #4 Darleen Hard, then unseeded Moffit to win her first title
1964: Court # 1, beat 4 unseeded players, then #3 seed Moffit, before losing to #2 Bueno in the final
1965:Court # 2, beat 5 unseeded players ( including Truman in the semis), then #1 Bueno to win her 2nd title
1966: Court #1, beat 4 unseeded players, lost to #4 and eventual champion BJK in the SF
1967: Court absent
1968: Court #2, beat 3 unseeded players, lost to #7 Tegart in the QF, who lost in the semis
1969: Court #1, beat 3 unseeded players, then beat # 7 Heldman before losing to #4 Jones in the SF, who went on to win
1970: Court #1, beat 3 unseeded players, then # 8 Neisson, #5 Casals, and #2 BJK to win her 3rd title ( the final was seen as one of the most dramatic in Womens singles history)
1971: Court #1, beat 5 unseeded players, then lost to #3 champion Goolagong in the final,
1972: Court absent
1973: Court # 1, beat 3 unseeded players, then #8 Morozova, then lost to # 4 Evert in the SF.
1974: Court absent
1975: Court # 5 (lowest seeding ever) beat 4 unseeded players, then # 2 Navratilova, then lost to #4 runner-up Goolagong in the SF.
She won 3, runner-up twice, SF four times, QF twice, and lost in Rd 2 once. Her Career w/l average was 85.10% (51–9). She lost to a lower seed 8 times, beat a higher seed two times. Of course in 1975 she did both and I think that is the one of two years she clearly exceeded expectations. The other is probably 1970 when she was so injured despite her seeding ,it was a surprise she got to the final.
While she was only once upset in an early round by an unseeded nobody ( that four eyed short girl Moffit), Margaret definitely underperformed compared to expectations most of the time.
Last edited: