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The lawns of Wimbledon were opened for Women in the year 1884 and British woman Maud Watson became the first ever Wimbledon Women's Singles' Champion. In the year 2007, The All England Lawn Tennis Association established pay parity between Women professionals and Men professionals. Since 1884, women belonging to 10 different countries have won the title with the United States of America leading the pack at 57. We take a look at the 5 youngest Wimbledon Women's Singles' Champions :
#5 Mary Sutton
Mary Sutton was the first Women's player from the United States of America to win the Singles Championship at Wimbledon. She did so in the year 1905 defeating Dorothea Lambert Chambers in the final at the age of 19 years, 285 days. She would again win the Wimbledon Singles title in 1907 beating the same opponent.
#4 Steffi Graf
The only woman in history to have won 'The Golden Slam', German Steffi Graf was a fan favourite back in the 1980's and 1990's winning a total of 22 Grand Slam Singles' titles. She was ranked World Number 1 in Singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a record 377 weeks. Steffi won her first Wimbledon title in 1988 beating fellow tennis legend Martina Navratilova. She was 19 years, 19 days old when she won the title.
#3 Maria Sharapova
Russian superstar Maria Sharapova rose to prominence in 2004 when she upset defending champion Serena Williams to take home the Wimbledon trophy. She is the first and only Russian woman to have won a Wimbledon Singles' trophy. Maria is one of 10 women to have completed a Career Slam. She won her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon 2004 aged just 17 years, 75 days.
#2 Martina Hingis
Swiss tennis legend Martina Hingis was a tennis prodigy who shattered many tennis records in the late 1990's. At Wimbledon 1996, she won the Doubles title and became the youngest ever Wimbledon Champion across all formats of the game. She is one of few women to have been ranked World number 1 in both Singles and Doubles. She became the youngest player to be ranked World number 1 by the WTA. She achieved this in March 31st 1997 at the age of just 16. Her first Wimbledon Singles' title came in 1997 at the age of 16 years 278 days.
#1 Lottie Dod
British woman Lottie Dod was a multi-talented personality who thrived not only in tennis but also tasted good success in many other sports. She won the Wimbledon Singles title 5 times and her first triumph came in 1887 at the age of 15 years and 285 days. She was also a Silver medalist in Archery at the 1908 Olympic Games, a member of the British Field Hockey team in 1899 and the British Amateur Golf Champion in 1904. The Guinness Book of Records has named her as 'The most versatile female athlete of all-time'.
