Profile of the Day: Charlotte Cooper

On this day in 1870, British tennis player Charlotte Cooper was born. A tennis pioneer, Cooper won five singles titles at the Wimbledon Championships and holds the distinction of being the first female Olympic tennis champion.

Image: Charlotte Cooper / Wikimedia Commons

In 1895, Cooper won her first of five Wimbledon woman’s single titles and by the time she won her second championship a year later, Cooper had lost her sense of hearing. In 1900, Cooper made history while competing at the Paris Summer Olympic Games. After defeating Hélène Prévost in the final straight sets, Cooper became the first female Olympic tennis champion and the first individual female Olympic champion. She also won gold for mixed doubles alongside Reginald Doherty. In 1908, Cooper won her last Wimbledon singles title at the age of 37. She held the record as Wimbledon’s oldest female champion until 1990 when Martina Navratilova broke her record.

Cooper died on October 10, 1966 at the age of 96. She was posthumously inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.

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