Ruth Winch

Ruth Winch was a stalwart at Wimbledon at the turn of the 20th century, having made her début in 1891 under her maiden name Ruth Legh, and following her marriage to brewery managing director Edward Winch in February 1899, she played as Ruth Winch until 1920. She also entered all three Wimbledon events in 1922 at the age of 51 but withdrew from them all. She reached the singles quarter-final on her début in 1891 but lost 3-6 2-6 to Blanche Hillyard. She reached the last eight again in 1898 but withdrew from her match with Ireland’s Louisa Martin. Ruth went on to reach two more Wimbledon singles quarter-finals, the last in 1919 when she was one month short of her 49th birthday, and lost to Phyllis Satterthwaite 3-6, 4-6.

Winch won the 1907 Cannes tournament and a year later competed in the 1908 London Olympics, taking part in the singles competition. She received two walkovers into the semi-final before losing 1-6, 1-6 to Dorothea Lambert Chambers. There was no opponent for her in the bronze medal match, which was therefore awarded to Ruth despite playing just one match and winning two games. Her career spanned over 31 years over four decades.

Prior to her marriage to Edward Winch she was engaged to be married to the much older Olympic sailing champion Algernon Maudslay.