Martina Navratilova won more Wimbledon singles titles than any man or woman in history, but the nine-times champion was a surprisingly late starter.

Navratilova, who celebrates her 60th birthday today (October 18), lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time on her sixth visit to The Championships, in 1978. Of the 11 players who have won the Ladies’ Singles title at least five times, Billie Jean King is the only other champion who took as long to get off the mark.

In the circumstances it was perhaps no surprise that Navratilova won only two singles titles the following year, having won four in 1975. Nevertheless, she still reached her first semi-final at The Championships before losing to Chris Evert, who had already become a good friend. That was the first of their nine meetings at the All England Club. They eventually faced each other 80 times in their careers, Navratilova recording 43 victories to Evert’s 37.

One year later Navratilova was the No.2 seed at The Championships but lost to Betty Stove in the quarter-finals after playing a poor third set. By 1978, however, she had made significant progress, both physically and mentally, and had already won four Grand Slam doubles titles.

Navratilova’s temperament had been called into question in the past, but in coming from a set down to beat Barbara Jordan in the third round and Evonne Cawley in the semi-finals she was demonstrating new-found maturity.

Her opponent in the final was Evert, who took the first set with something to spare before the match developed into a gripping contest that was typical of so many of their battles. Evert had hit a succession of passing-shot winners in the early stages, but Navratilova’s relentless attacking started to pay dividends in the second set.

Navratilova went 2-0 up in the decider, only for Evert to win the next four games. Navratilova levelled at 4-4, held serve to stay in the match two games later and eventually closed out a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory. At the 15th attempt she was a Grand Slam singles champion at last.