Dorothy Lambert Chambers

As all the foreign entrants withdrew from the women’s singles at the 1908 Olympics, the field eventually consisted of five British players. Dora Boothby drew a series of byes into the final where she met Dolly Lambert Chambers and won a silver medal for losing the only match she played. Lambert Chambers and Boothby met again many times after the Olympic final, the most notable re-match being in the 1911 Wimbledon final when Lambert Chambers won 6-0, 6-0, and Dora Boothby earned the unenviable distinction of being the only Wimbledon singles finalist who has failed to win a single game.

Dorothea Douglass was born and raised in Ealing, where her father was the vicar of St. Matthew’s Church, and she was educated locally at Princess Helena College where she took up the game of tennis. As the 1900 Olympic champion, Charlotte Cooper, also came from the same neighborhood, the Olympic title returned to Ealing in 1908 with Dorothea’s victory. Before her marriage to Robert Lambert Chambers in 1907 she won three Wimbledon singles championships and was to win four more as a married woman. Her total of seven Wimbledon singles victories has only been surpassed by Helen Wills and Martina Navratilova and had it not been for the interruption caused by the war it is not unreasonable to assume that Lambert Chambers would have won further honors. In fact, she very nearly claimed an eighth title in 1919 when she held two match points against Suzanne Lenglen. She also lost the 1920 final to Lenglen. In 1927, at the age of 48, Dolly Lambert Chambers played at Wimbledon for the last time and the following year became a professional coach. During the course of her outstanding playing career she had, in addition to her seven Wimbledon singles title, won the All-England women’s doubles in 1903 and 1904 and the mixed doubles in 1903 and 1906. Hence, in 1903 she became the first woman to win all three titles at the All-England Championships. The talent of this great sportswoman was not confined to the tennis courts and she won two All-England badminton titles and played hockey for Middlesex.