Charlotte Cooper (tennis)

Charlotte Cooper Sterry was an English female tennis player who won five singles titles at the Wimbledon Championships and in 1900 became the first female Olympic champion.

Charlotte Cooper was born onSeptember 1870 at Waldham Lodge, Ealing, Middlesex, England, the youngest daughter of Henry Cooper, a miller, and his wife Teresa Georgiana Miller. She learned to play tennis at the Ealing Lawn Tennis Club where she was first coached by H. Lawrence and later by Charles Martin and Harold Mahony. She won her first senior singles title in 1893 at Ilkley. Between 1893 and 1917 she participated inWimbledon tournaments. At her first appearance she reached the semifinal of the singles event in which she lost to Blanche Bingley Hillyard. She won her first singles title in 1895 defeating Helen Jackson in the final of the AllComers event, wearing an anklelength dress in accordance with proper Victorian attire. In that match she was down 05 in both sets but managed to win in straight sets. The following year, 1896, she successfully defended her title in the Challenge Round against Alice Simpson Pickering. Between 1897 and 1901 the titles were divided between Co

Source: Wikipedia