Wimbledon's Greatest Champions

John McEnroe, Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Rod Laver, to some people these may just be names that we wouldn't even bat an eyelid at, but to any tennis buff, they will know that they are the greatest champions that have ever graced the Wimbledon turf. Here are some of the best.

By Rebecca Wass

Billie Jean King

No, I'm not talking about the Michael Jackson hit single, but the 'most dynamic and prolific player ever to play at Wimbledon' according to the official history of the TV Championships.

Billie Jean became the hot topic of conversation back in September 1973, after the most talked-about tennis match ever, the so-called 'Battle of the Sexes' where she defeated Bobby Riggs in three straight sets. Between 1966 and 1975, Billie Jean's domination was near perfect after reaching eight Ladies' finals and winning six of them.

In the 22 years she played tennis, Billie Jean lost a mere 41 matches in singles and doubles. Billie Jean amassed 95 singles, 74 doubles, and 55 mixed wins for a total of 224. To this day, Billie Jean still remains involved with the sport as she is the captain of the US Fed Cup Team and a commentator.

Martina Navratilova

According to a poll of BBC television viewers during the 2003 Championships, she was chosen as Wimbledon's greatest ladies' singles champion, and after winning a record of nine singles titles spanning over three decades, it's not hard to see why.

Martina entered a fourth decade back in 2003, and became the oldest ever Grand Slam Champion at 46 years and 261 days old, after defeating Leander Paes in the Mixed Doubles. Earlier that year Martina became the first player in Open era to win every slam event available, again defeating Leander Paes in the 2003 Australian Open Mixed Doubles. In total she won 58 Grand Slam titles in all.

John McEnroe

John McEnroe has been hailed as one of The Championship's most successful men's players after winning the Wimbledon singles crown three times. But above all that, he brought charisma, talent and a fiery attitude to match, to Wimbledon's Centre Court.

McEnroe himself once said that with his time at Wimbledon, he has learnt a lot more about self-control. McEnroe was involved in arguably, the most famous Wimbledon final back in 1980 against Borg, winning a 20 minute, fourth set tie-break, before losing the fifth 8-6. Then he made an almighty comeback a year later defeating the Swede and bagging his first Wimbledon title.

Rod Laver

In 1956, Rod Laver made his debut at Wimbledon, at the tender age of just 17.

Laver had become a finalist in both 1959 and 1960. Laver was first crowned a champion back in 1961, and the following summer he made an almighty comeback having won the title of Italy, France and Germany. By the time he had made made his final appearance in 1971, he had been able to achieve champion 4 times and runner-up twice