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"Our Ginny" The Virginia Wade Corner.

39K views 128 replies 38 participants last post by  samn 
#1 · (Edited)
Any thoughts, memories, pics, etc. of Virginia Wade? Virginia was my very first favorite, holding a special place in my heart. Yes she could be a bitch at times, but she was a royal bitch if you know what i mean, dishing out catty quotes with her oh so upper class British accent. She acted the way she did because she had a total passion and fiery beauty unmatched.

Virginia was an enigma if ever there was one. From posts and bits I 've read she is or was said to be a closeted lesbian, but she attracted a huge group of male admirers in her time and also dated a number of men. For some reason too she had an unusual number of obsessive followers.

The contrasts and mystery extended to her game and personality. She was a minister's daughter but was notorious for arguing calls and using unladylike language. She could be fire or ice. Charming or a hellion. Friendly (Francoise Durr was one of her good friends) or aloof and distant.

Wade had a fascination for cats, often comparing herself to a lioness. The year she won Wimbledon she changed her conservative ponytail hairstyle to a lion-like mane. I'll always think of Virginia when I see a graceful cat with eyes alblaze!
I love my "Ginny" Wade:hearts:
 
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#2 ·
Here's an article from about 1975 that captures some of her enigmatic personality.


Virginia Wade not 'with it,' but still winning i tennis
By Bill Nichols

Some days Virginia Wade is the finest woman tennis player in the world. Other days she's really with it.

But you'd better believe it -- Virginia has come a long way baby. She is one of the premier performers on the Virginia Slims circuit and can beat most players even when she's not really with it.

Ginny Wade is a semi-finalist in the $75,000 Virginia Slims tussle this week at the Coliseum after eliminating Laura DuPont, Bridget Cuypers and Mima Jausovec. But she's bored.

"I'm not really with it," she smiled. "I hope I can get with it before the week is out."

"Temporarily, I've lost my fascination for hitting a tennis ball."

Miss Wade, England's gift to the tennis world, looks at the game of backhands forehands, lobs and volleys, differently than most. She has said she would rather play beautiful tennis than win.

"In fact, if I'm really playing well, really hitting the ball, I can lose track of the purpose behind it all," she added.

She considers herself as being in a slump, even though she has reached the semis in the tour's first four tournaments this winter.

"One goes through these patches once awhile," she moaned. "You get stale. I need a vacation. I'm going to take three weeks off and go home and practice."

Virginia is a regular visitor to the area having been here several times with the British Wightman Cup team. And she has never failed to attract attention.

She has won here when maybe she should have lost. And, occasionally, she lost when she had no business going so, especially when she wasn't with it.

The daughter of an Episcopal archdeacon, she was a math major. She is a girl of many moods. These moods reflect on the tennis court.

When Ginny is mad and still in control of her wits she can make short work of any opponent, but sometimes her wits are not with her. But when you see her play, you're sure she's an art major -- or English, but never mathematics. She just isn't that precise.

Virginia has had an outstanding career, which includes capturing the United States Open in 1968 but you always get the feeling she should win every tournament.

She is powerful and possessor of all the shots. "I wish I had just some of her strokes," sighed Miss Cuypers. "I definitely need a little win. That would help no end."

If it isn't this week, she will win one day soon. It would do wonders for her disposition. And she may once again become fascinated with hitting a tennis ball.
 
#5 ·
Now I'm in heaven Evonne. Thank you so much:) In
particular I love the one where she's volleying with her fingers stretched out on the other hand. A classic pose!

I remember a Teddy Tinling story about how women's tennis players are noticibly larger on their dominant side(guess Seles doesn't have that problem ;) Well, Teddy said that in Virginia's case it was so extreme he had to sew extra padding on her left shoulder to even things out! Her booming serve must have put some muscles on her.
 
#6 ·
Hi Rollo & Evonne

Love those pics! I have a couple of stunning pics of Ginny which I have scanned but when I go to post them it says the File size is too big. Do you have any tips so I can post them here?

I met Ginny at Wimbledon a couple of years back in the Players lounge. I was actually filming a little bit (although it wasn't allowed) and when I was scanning the area there she was with her back to me. She turned and smiled. I then asked if she could say something to all her fans at the Australian Tennis Museum on the video camera so she did a few takes but kept saying the wrong things and then she just burst into hysterics - laughing uncontrollably! She was very sweet indeed - in that moment anyway.

Frankie Durr has told me that although Ginny was one of her favourite doubles partners, she never ever got close to Ginny. Ginny just wouldn't let any of the players get close to her at all.

She was such a beautiful stylist. I have about 20 of her matches on tape and just love watching her play - very elegant. A few of the matches I have include her 77 SF win over Evert and a WTT win over Evert as well - both of them were stunning matches. Ginny actually beat Chris from the baseline in that Wimbledon Semi. The match featured some of the most wonderful rallies you would ever wish to see, and both girls were absolutely exhausted at various stages of the match, such was the ferocity of play.
 
#7 ·
I always admired Virginia Wade and the manner in which she played. When she won Wimbledon in '77 I was shocked and very happy for her. I always wanted to see the semi win over Evert but it seems NBC only showed tennis during the weekend, and wasn't the women's final on Friday also???

I saw Wade play in person during the summer of '78 at the Oakland Coluseum. She was a member of the Golden Gators team and she faced Chris Evert in a singles set. I think Wade won, not sure. After the set my sister and I ran down to get Virginia's autograph. We asked and she replied, very sternly, "No, I can't do those". I was only 11, so I went through a period of hating the old crank. Then after all those losses to Austin, Jaeger and the kids I wanted Our Ginny to win again. Didn't Wade stick around until about '84 or so?
 
#8 ·
Hi Mark

I have a WTT win by Wade over Evert, although I think it might be 77, so it might be a different one to the one you were at.

I envy you seeing all those oldies playing live, whilst I have only seen them on tape or in Veterans events. I would have preferred to see them live at their peak.
 
#9 ·
Is the WTT set you have a 6-0 whitewash of evert by Virginia Tennisvideos? If it is I promise you it's the 1977 WTT championship finals, where Wade shocked Chris in a pivotal match. Ginny must have relished that one:)

Do you have the Goolagong-Wade Wimbledon quarter of 75
Tennisvideos? I hear that was a classic. Evonne always gave Wade major problems.

Ginny made Francoise sound like a good friend in her autobiography, but Durr's version sounds more like the truth. There's a great section in a 1973 book about Wade, calling her a
"mystery woman". Be it a pysch job(which a lot of women did) or just part of her personality, it created an aura of intrigue around the Brit.

Sorry she turned you down Mark. LOL@ the "old crank" bit:) I must admit she wasn't so friendly when I got her autograph in 1983 at Wightman Cup-Martina was nicer and Pam Shriver was a riot, joking with me because I had snuck past security!
 
#10 ·
Hey guys,

I think in '77 Wade was playing for the New York Apples? WTT was so much fun. I know it took away all the top players from the French Open and clay court season, but it made tennis accessible to US fans in certain areas on a weekly basis. Plus all those great match ups, Goolagong/Evert/Wade/King/Navratilova/Barker etc etc. I mean there have been a few years here and there where the top players only met once or twice during an entire year (1988/90/91/92 come to mind) so it was great to have these ladies facing off on a weekly basis.

I know WTT still exists but I think back in the 70's it was a really big deal. Strange how things change so much. I know everyone who played back then thinks "I could have won Roland Garros if I just didn't play WTT!".

Well, maybe not everyone.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Hi Rollo & Mark

The two WTT matches with Wade v Evert had each of them winning a match 7-5. Both great matches, but not the match you were discussing.

Yes, I do have the Wimbledon 75 QF with Goolagong beating Wade in an absolute thriller 57 63 97. Certainly a great match.

I know what you mean about WTT being huge in the 70s Mark. It certainly damaged the European circuit and French Open as you mentioned.
 
#12 ·
Just read in an Old Chris Evert auto that said that Wade had fan that was obsessed with her. The fan was actually a gynaecologist who was so taken with Wade that he sent her a message saying that if she ever needed any medical help he would give it to her for free!!!! (Didn't seem that the guy was joking)
I wonder if Wade ever met him, to see if it was worth taking up the examination.

Always laughed at Wade coming down to Aust in 1972 and beating Evonne. Viriginia said something like that she didn't come down to win the Aust Open, she only came this far to beat Evonne in her own country because she was sick of people doing the same to her, in her own country.
 
#14 ·
What I admired most about Ginny (and there was a lot to admire) was her longevity. She kept on coming to Wimbledon right into the 80's. I recall a very nice performance on Center Court where she upset a player that I did not expect her to trouble. Zina Garrison was in tears when they shook hands. How old was she when she finally retired? I'm sure she thought about retiring many times, but a win over such players as Zina kept her going I guess.

I have her (auto)biography. I really should get around to reading it. :) I think it only goes up to 1977. Maybe Virginia should think about writing her memoirs. It would make a great read.
 
#15 ·
WOW! A whole thread dedicated to me ;) lol All those pictures of me in fine form! Happy memories.

Seriously - I love Ginny, she's great, really great. :)
Although I'm too young to have watched her play at the time, I've seen many tapes of her and Anne Jones (I'm a huge Anne Jones fan). And her book Courting Triumph is really good Double Fault you are right, we need a more up to date version! :) I was lucky enough to meet Virginia at Wimbledon and she was really nice - I also saw her play with Pam Shriver last year in the seniors- talk about the dream team :)
 
#17 ·
Why thank you Vanity;):p

On a serious note, I also think Virginia is one of the few commentators that actually talk sense. Her knowledge of the game is fantastic, and she says it how she sees.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Stunning pic of Ginny. Thanks Rollo :) Looks like a shot from WTT.

Yes, she was beautiful, regal and so refined. And her voice is something to behold. I love listening to her commentate... she's a classy woman.

I recall watching her play in Australia in the very early 80s and she was down here with her (I assumed from their constant glances and smiles etc) partner at the time, another stunning dark haired woman.

Plus she played doubles with Frankie Durr for a number of years so I love her even more! Unfortunately I only have them as a pair on video losing together in the Wimbledon Final of 1970 to King & Casals... Ginny also played with Margaret Court in the late 60s and early 70s ... they made a great attacking pair. I have the final 10 minutes of them when they beat King & Casals in a thriller in the 73 USO Final 36 63 75. Great footage and drama. And I also have a few clips when Durr & Hard beat them in the 69 USO Final after being down something like 0-6, 0-3 or something...

She is also a very funny woman... not only did I see her in great humour when I met her, but also I have a video of her playing the legends tour and she gets a fit of the giggles during play and couldn't stop for about 5 minutes
Gotta love her!
 
#20 ·
Hi - I met Virginia at this years French Open when I worked for the BBC website there. It was approcahing the 25th anniversary of her Wimbledon win, so they asked me to interview her... Link below...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/wimbledon/2036120.stm

I must admit, I found her bery charming and full of lots of tit bits of information which I gladly took in as I love hearing stories about tennis in the 1970's when they were forming the Tour. She was very candid and honest about herself and a lot of the players, so could have wrote a great in-depth feature about her, however the BBC wanted a standard Jubilee feature, so most of my info went to waste...

She talked very candidly about winning Wimbledon and how much of a dream it was for her, but that she knew she was going to win that year around spring time - she just had the feeling... Evonne was out pregnant, Billie-Jean was just coming back, Virginia still had an edge over Martina and she knew she could take out Chrissie at Wimbledon.

She did say that Sue Barker having such a great year in 1977 took the pressure off of her as Barker was in the bottom half of the draw away from Evert, so everyone was expecting her to reach the final. She said that she doesn't remember much from the Evert mathc as she was in 'the zone' and was so concentrated that she wasn't paying attention to anyone of the score... she knew she was going to win and that was just that!!!

When she beat Chrissie, she knew she would win the event as she had played Stove over 3 sets in the last few matches and had dug deep to win each time - so she had done that hard work as she said - she had that mental edge over Betty.

After she won, she said that she couldn't hear a single word of what the Queen said, she asked her to repeat once, but it wouldn't be polite to ask again,. so she just smiled - she didnt care as she was in 7th heaven - she says that whenever she feels a bit sad, she can instantly get out of it by remembering the emotions after the match.

She admitted to me that she was very aloof and kept her distance from the other players... she says she regrets that a little now, as she missed some of the camaradorie, but that she was always told to keep her distance so that she didnt get too close and then lose the menatl edge when playing somone.

She saod that she didnt like Billie-Jean until later in their careers, and that Billie-Jean used to spook her out as she was the leader of the players clique - BJK, Casals, Martina etc, but That Billie-Jean gave her advice later in her career and she appreciated it.

She said that although she played with Court, she was also very aloof and hasnt spoken to her in years... She said that Goolagong was the nicest of the players...

We spoke for about 2 hours, but cant say everything on here, plus cant remember a lot of it now. I was sitting watching the women's quarter's at Roland Garros on Court Suzanne Lenglen and she came to find me to sit with me to watch the matche sin the press box which was nice... Must admit, she kept commenting and half-commentating after each point, which drove some of the other journalists around us nuts!!!

I did like her when we met, which I didn't expect to in advance - simply because of things I had heard when working at the BBC and at Eurosport beforehand. She doesn't get on with the British players like Sue Barker, Jo Durie, Anne Jones, Annabel Croft. She hates Sue Barker as she is now the darling of the BBC Tennis Team and Sue has so much power in that team. Virginia also had a fit 2/3 years ago now when she was dropped from the BBC Commentary of the Wimbledon singles final in favour of Shriver and Navratilova. But at almost 60, she is one of the older brigrade of commentators and the BBC needed a fresher image.

As much as I like her, I am not her biggest fan as a commentator, I find myself constantly screaming at the TV as she makes so many factual errors - according to a few of the other commentators I know, that also drives them nuts...

Apparantly Pam Shriver was pissed off at her at Wimbledon (I think it was last year) when they were teamed togther by the lucky ballot in the senior doubles. Pam reckoned Vriginia was too old to play in the event and had no control anymore.. They lost one match 6-0,6-0 when Pam was also injured, Pam left the court in tears and they had a fight in the locker room - this is all confidential of course... he he

So there you go, what I know about the good and bad sides of our Ginny!!!
 
#21 ·
ColinB said:
Apparantly Pam Shriver was pissed off at her at Wimbledon (I think it was last year) when they were teamed togther by the lucky ballot in the senior doubles. Pam reckoned Vriginia was too old to play in the event and had no control anymore.. They lost one match 6-0,6-0 when Pam was also injured, Pam left the court in tears and they had a fight in the locker room - this is all confidential of course... he he
Yeah, we attended that match, it was truly awful. This year when we saw Pam, Sian asked her why she wasn't in the senior event and she said that last year was truly embarrasing and that she didn't want to go through that again!
 
#23 ·
Rollo said:
I remember a Teddy Tinling story about how women's tennis players are noticibly larger on their dominant side(guess Seles doesn't have that problem ;)
Ouch and that's true! Sabatini was really bad too. LOL @ Seles, but you know many of the two-handed backhand players aren't really that noticeable anymore, probably cause they're using their left hands for power too :eek:

BTW this thread is a great read :)
 
#24 ·
yeh she must be 57 now as it is 25 years since she won Wimbedon at age of 32... so she looks not bad for her age....

She still played professionally into her early 40's.... After winning Wimbledon she never quite achieved the same heights again - she reached the semi's the following year, but never another Grand Slam semi. She dropped out of the top10 after Wimbledon 1980 when she lost in the 4th round as the 7th seed to Andrea Jaeger who was only 14 at the time - Ginny was 35!!!! Not bad to still be ranked in the top 10, 13 years after she first was!!!!

She slowly wound down her career in the next few years, but always reserved her best for Wimbledon... In 1983, aged 38 she surprisingly reached the quarters unseeded when everyone had written her off. what was worse was that she had a HUGE chance to reach the semi's as she played the tiny Yvonne Vermaak of South Africa who was only ranked 4oth at the time and no grass court expert, but she lost 6-3,2-6,6-2. If she had reached the semi's, it would have been an amazing tournament as 40 year old Billie-Jean also reached the semi's that year losing to Jaeger.

Everyone thought Virginia would retire after that, but she kept playing the Grand Slams and the odd selected event and arrived at Wimbledon 1984 ages 39 and about to drop out of the top 100 - but there she fought back the years to defeat the 5th seed Zina Garrison 3-6,6-4,7-5, although Garrison's nerves cost her the match at the end... Ginny then lost 11-9 final set to Carinna Karlsson of Sweden in the next round.

Back she came the next year aged 40 and now a member of the All England Club Committee. She reached the 3rd round and drew the 5th seed again - this time Pam Shriver... Ginny once again turned back the clock to stretch Pam to 6-2,5-7,6-2.

She played her last match at the 1985 Australian Open where she lost to 3rd seed and US Open Champion Hana Mandlikova 6-2,7-6 - not a bad feat for someone who was about to turn 41!!! In terms of success at such a late stage of their careers in the their late 30's only Billie-Jean and Martina can rival Ginny I think...

I don't think 1977 was her best year though as she didnt play very many tournaments then - only playing 2 events after Wimbledon - losing to Turnbull at the US Open and to Martina in the final of Tokyo. Her results were also mixed at the Virginia Slims indoor circuit in the first few months of 1977.

Even though she won Grand Slams in 1968 and 1972, I think 1975 was probably her best year. Up until 1975 she was very inconsistent, often challenging the top players like Court, Evert, Goolagong and King, but rarely beating them, Plus Casals and Melville were that bit more consistent.

But in 1975, she said she purposely worked on her concentration and consistency and it paid off - she had a great indoor season in the Virginia Slims Circuit finishing 3rd behind Chris and Martina, but beating all the top players including King and Goolagong, and winning Dallas and Philadelphia in consecutive weeks beating Martina and Chris in the finals of each.

She then won the pre-Wimbledon event at Eastbourne beating Goolagong and King and was unnoficially ranked 3rd behind Chris and Martina and ahead of King, Goolagong and Court for the first time in her career. But Wimbledon seeded the 3 big names above her and she had to face Evonne in the quarters losing 5-7,6-3,9-7 in what was described as an epic. The US Open rightly seeded her 2nd, but she lost to Evonne once again the semi's..., but did win 2 other events that autumn, plus the Wightman Cup for GB and made a clean sweep of the old Indoor Dewar Cup Circuit in the UK - so that when the first ever official WTA rankings were released in Nov 1975, Ginny was number 2 behind Evert and ahead of Martina, Goolagong, King and Court. She was 30 years old by then as well, just as most players get written off...
 
#25 ·
Thanks for all the great posts! I'm glad to know that Ginny can be charming off court.

Colin-I hope you'll share your other tennis colums with us. It was a fantastic read. Funy about her not hearing a word Queen Lizzy said. One suspects it wasn't a great loss......

I've one minor correction. Virginia played several events after Wimbledon in 1977. She led her WTT to the championships-including a 6-0 godsmacking of Chris Evert, lost to Turnbull at the US Open, Won Tokyo over Navratilova. played Wightman Cup, then entered Atlanta before she played the Colgate Masters.

The Colgate event was the third most important that year and Wade came very near getting to the finals. It was double elimination and Wade had Chris Evert on the ropes at 6-1 3-1 when she pitched a real fit. It must have been a zinger, because Evert got visibly mad and the crowd even started cheering Chris.
Evert dug out the match under a freezing desert moon after midnight 1-6 6-4 6-4 in what many considered the match of the year.

Evert had a huge grin on her face as she came to the net for the handshake. Afterwards she pointedly said, "There are some people I especially hate losing too." for her part, Wade ruefully admitted "I cooked my own goose at 3-1." Virginia hit the roof when she was informed that now there was no way she could make the final under the complicated format. Despite her and Evert both losing one match (Evert lost to Fromholtz) it was Chris who moved on to the final.

She was cool as ice towards me when I asked for an autograph in 1983, but at least she gave me one. Virginia didn't do a Mark 35 on me!(see his post on Wade at WTT) It was Wightman Cup
and I sneaked through security all the way down to the press interview room. Within 5 minutes I had nabbed Wade, Navratilova, and Shriver. Pam was the friendliest of all, joking about the (lack of) security with me. Martina was friendly too-and I was totally shocked by how small she was. Funny how in the 80s her image was that of a giant.
 
#26 ·
LOL@ her hating pixie Sue Barker. I knew King detested her. That deserves a post of it's own:)

Colin-I think it's fascinating that she was told to keep her distance from others. Did she say who told her that? It seems to be a common tactic among many top women. Certainly the Williams sisters practice it, as did Graf and as far back as Helen Wills.

Tennis videos-do you know if Wade was interested in men at one time? I can't recall where-but at one time I read she went through a lot of lovers right and left! Writer David Grey just adored her in print, and I saw hints of a romance there.
I know she was living with the ghost writer of her book (Mary Lou Mellace) for a while at least.

It's fitting that her image is that of a cat or lioness. She'll always be a sphinx-like mystery to me .
 
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