Kathleen McKane Godfree
Kathleen McKane Godfree (left) and Suzanne Lenglen at the French Championships in 1925
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| Full name | Kathleen McKane Godfree | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Country (sports) |
 United Kingdom
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| Born |
7 May 1896 Bayswater, England |
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| Died | 19 June 1992 (aged 96) London, England |
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| Plays | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1978 (member page) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Singles | |||||||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | No.2 (1923, 1924, 1926) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam Singles results | |||||||||||||||||||
| French Open | F (1923, 1925) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | W (1924, 1924) | ||||||||||||||||||
| US Open | F (1925) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Doubles | |||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |||||||||||||||||||
| French Open | F (1925, 1926) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | F (1922, 1924, 1936) | ||||||||||||||||||
| US Open | W (1923, 1927) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | W (1924, 1926) | ||||||||||||||||||
| US Open | W (1925) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Team competitions | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wightman Cup | (1924, 1925) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Kathleen "Kitty" McKane Godfree (née McKane; 7 May 1896 – 19 June 1992) was a British tennis and badminton player.
According to A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Godfree was ranked in the world top ten from 1921 (when the rankings began) through 1927, reaching a career high of World No. 2 in those rankings in 1923, 1924, and 1926.
Godfree won five Olympic medals in tennis at the 1920 Antwerp and 1924 Paris games, the most Olympic medals ever won by a tennis player until Venus Williams matched this record at the 2016 Olympics Games. In 1923 she captured the title at the World Covered Court Championships.
Godfree won the Wimbledon singles title twice. In the 1924 final, Godfree recovered from a set and 4–1 (40–15) down against Helen Wills Moody to win the title. This was the only defeat at Wimbledon for Moody who would go on to win eight titles. In the 1926 final, Godfree recovered from a 3–1 and game-point-against deficit in the third set to defeat Lili de Alvarez.
The 1924 Wimbledon final was not Godfree's only victory over Moody. Godfree also defeated Moody during the 1924 Wightman Cup 6–2, 6–2. On at least two other occasions, Godfree pushed Moody to the limit. Moody won their quarterfinal in the 1923 U.S. Championships 2–6, 6–2, 7–5 after Godfree recovered to 5–5 in the third set after trailing 5–2. And in the final of the 1925 U.S. Championships, Moody won in three sets.
In 1925, Godfree became the first person to have reached the singles finals of the French Championships, Wimbledon, and U.S. Championships during her career.
In 1922, Kitty and her sister were the only sisters to contest a Wimbledon doubles final (until Serena and Venus Williams reached the final in 2000), losing to Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan 6–0, 6–4.
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