The All England Club is deeply saddened to learn of the death of our 1961 Ladies’ Singles Champion, Angela Mortimer Barrett MBE, who died in the early hours of Monday 25 August, aged 93.

During her career, she won three Grand Slam singles titles, and one doubles title. She achieved all this despite facing significant periods of adversity.

Florence Angela Margaret Mortimer was born on 21 April 1932 in Plymouth. She was the second Wimbledon singles champion to be born in the town, following the 1905 and 1907 champion, May Sutton.

Mortimer took up tennis comparatively late, at the age of 14. When she first visited the courts at the Palace Hotel in Torquay she was turned away by the renowned coach, Arthur Roberts, who told her she was too old and not good enough. However, demonstrating the determination and self-belief that would define her career, the young Mortimer refused to take no for an answer, practising for hours every day against a wall, before Roberts finally relented and agreed to coach her.

Mortimer’s single-mindedness and dedication saw her progress steadily and she made her first appearance at The Championships in 1951. The following year she reached the quarter-finals of the US National Championships, a run she repeated at Wimbledon in 1953 and 1954.

In 1955 she won her first significant senior title at the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth and she followed this up with victory at the 1955 French Championships, her first Grand Slam title. In a marathon final, she defeated Dorothy Knode 2-6, 7-5, 10-8. She later recounted how, at eight games all in the final set, she knew she had the upper hand when she heard her opponent asking for a brandy.

Her victory was all the more remarkable as she was increasingly affected by hearing loss, something which would affect her for the rest of her life. Characteristically, she tried to take some positives from her condition, crediting it for her outstanding powers of concentration and ability to tune out extraneous noise.

Mortimer’s deafness also proved beneficial in her doubles partnership with Anne Shilcock. The latter had a habit of annoying some partners by continually commenting and issuing instructions throughout a match. Mortimer, however, was untroubled by this as she could not hear anything Shilcock said. Their partnership peaked with victory in an all-British ladies’ doubles final at Wimbledon in 1955, against Shirley Bloomer and Pat Ward. However, there was disappointment in the singles, with Mortimer losing in the second round to Suzy Kormoczy of Hungary.

Over the next few years, Mortimer was afflicted by recurrent bouts of illness, although she did reach a second final at Roland-Garros in 1956, losing to Althea Gibson, and another quarter-final at Wimbledon the same year. She was eventually diagnosed with Entomoebic Dysentry, which was only cured by a three-week starvation diet that caused her to lose a huge amount of weight and left her extremely weak. Mortimer initially feared that she would never again compete at the top level. However, when she did return it was with a renewed love of the game, having discarded the terror of losing she had previously always felt.

Her comeback began with a tour to Australia in 1958, which culminated in a second Grand Slam title at the Australian Championships, where she defeated Lorraine Coghlan in the final. She came close to winning the ‘triple crown’ but lost in the final of both the ladies’ doubles (with Coghlan) and the mixed doubles (with Peter Newman).

Later that year, Mortimer had a breakthrough performance at Wimbledon when, despite being unseeded, she reached the final. She lost to Gibson once again but she remains one of only five unseeded women to reach the final.

Following two further quarter-final defeats in 1959 and 1960, Mortimer’s chances of ever winning Wimbledon seemed slim. Just a few weeks before The Championships 1961, they seemed even slimmer, as she was barely able to hold her racket due to a bout of tennis elbow. However, a cortisone injection enabled her to compete and, unburdened by the high expectations of previous years (having been overtaken in the British rankings by Christine Truman and Ann Haydon), she progressed through the draw without losing a set until the final.

In the semi-finals she upset the top seed Sandra Reynolds of South Africa 11-9, 6-3, to set up the first all-British final since 1914, against Christine Truman. When Truman led 6-4, 4-3, it looked as if she, rather than Mortimer, would become the first British champion since Dorothy Round in 1937.

However, as had often happened in their previous encounters, Mortimer tenaciously turned the tide. On this occasion, the momentum shifted when Truman fell while holding a break point for a 5-3 lead. The rest of the match was close-fought but Mortimer now had the initiative and ultimately prevailed 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. She had finally achieved her life’s ambition.

Later the same year, Mortimer reached the semi-finals of the US Championships, her best performance at that event. Her defence of her Wimbledon title the following year was ended in the fourth round by Vera Sukova and she retired from singles play shortly afterwards. Fittingly, her final singles title came at the 1962 Torquay Open, where she beat Ann Haydon Jones in the final.

Her autobiography, aptly titled My Waiting Game, was published in 1962. The book described how she had achieved her ultimate goal through patience, dedication and application and ‘Without histrionics, frilly panties or becoming involved in the social tennis whirl’. Always preferring shorts to skirts or dresses, she repeatedly declined offers from the legendary dress designer Ted Tinling, until he agreed to compromise and design a pair of shorts for her. She later joined Tinling’s staff.

Mortimer continued competing in doubles, including several appearances at The Championships alongside her husband, the fellow British player John Barrett MBE. Their best result was a quarter-final place in 1966. The couple had been married in 1967, the same year that Mortimer was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List.

Mortimer and Barrett had known each other since their days on the junior circuit, but their early interactions did not indicate any possibility of romance. Barrett once told the story of the time he was asked to manage the British Wightman Cup team for their annual ladies’ match against the USA. Travelling to the US on the ocean liner Mauritania, the team attended a dance one evening. Not one to have favourites, Barrett asked each of the team, in turn, to dance with him. Whilst the others all accepted, when it came to Mortimer’s turn, she simply told him, ‘I don’t dance!’

Nevertheless, romance did slowly develop, and they were married at St. Mary’s Church, Wimbledon, just around the corner from their beloved All England Club, in 1967. They had a son, Michael, a trademark lawyer, and a daughter, Sarah Jane, who worked in publishing. Her husband and both children, as well as four grandchildren, survive her.

Between 1964 and 1970, Mortimer served as Great Britain’s Wightman Cup captain. She led the team to one win, in 1968.

She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993 and when her husband was inducted 21 years later, for his contributions as a player, coach, broadcaster and writer, they became the second married couple to achieve the distinction, following Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi.

In 2004, a head and shoulders sculpture of Mortimer Barrett was installed at the entrance to the Clubhouse of the All England Club, along with those of Kitty Godfree, Dorothy Round, Ann Jones and Virginia Wade, the five British women to have won the ladies’ singles title at the Club’s current Church Road Grounds. In July 2014, she received the Freedom of the Borough of Merton.

An Honorary Member of the All England Club since her 1961 triumph, and living just a few hundred yards from the Club, Mortimer Barrett would pass her own sculpture several times a week on her visits to the Club for lunch with friends and to play Bridge.

Deborah Jevans CBE, Chair of the All England Club, commented:
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Angela Mortimer Barrett MBE, Wimbledon’s oldest surviving Ladies’ Singles Champion, at the age of 93.

“Angela will be remembered for her determination and extraordinary dedication which saw her overcome significant challenges to rise to the top of tennis, winning three Grand Slam singles titles and one Grand Slam doubles title.

“An Honorary Member since her triumph in 1961, Angela has been a familiar face and valued Member for more than six decades. Her passing leaves a hole in the fabric of the Club, and she will be greatly missed.

“On behalf of everyone at the All England Club, I offer my sincere condolences to Angela’s husband, John; their children, Michael and Sarah Jane; grandchildren, family and friends.”