Lottie Dod
 |
|
| Full name | Charlotte "Lottie" Dod |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |
 United Kingdom
|
| Born |
24 September 1871 Bebington, Merseyside, England |
| Died | 27 June 1960 (aged 88) Sway, England |
| Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in) |
| Plays | Right-handed |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1983 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Wimbledon | W (1887, 1888, 1891, 1892, 1893) |
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's Archery | ||
 |
1908 London | Double National round |
Charlotte "Lottie" Dod (24 September 1871 – 27 June 1960) was an English sportswoman best known as a tennis player. She won the Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Championship five times, the first one when she was only fifteen in the summer of 1887. She remains the youngest ladies' singles champion, though Martina Hingis was three days younger when she won the women's doubles title in 1996.
In addition to tennis, Dod competed in many other sports, including golf, field hockey, and archery. She also won the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship, played twice for the England women's national field hockey team (which she helped to found), and won a silver medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics in archery. The Guinness Book of Records has named her as the most versatile female athlete of all time, together with track and field athlete and fellow golf player Babe Zaharias.
Dod was born on 24 September 1871 in Bebington, Merseyside, the youngest of four children to Joseph and Margaret Dod. Joseph, from Liverpool, had made a fortune in the cotton trade. The family was wealthy enough to provide for all members for life; Lottie and her brother Willy never had to work. Besides Willy, Lottie had a sister, Annie, and another brother, Tony, all of whom also excelled in sports. Annie was a good tennis player, golfer, ice skater and billiards player. Willy Dod won the Olympic gold medal in archery at the 1908 Games, while Tony was a regional level archer and a chess and tennis player. The Dod children received a private education by tutors and governesses. In her childhood Lottie played the piano, banjo and she was member of a local choir. When Dod was nine years old, two tennis courts were built near the family's estate, Edgeworth. Lawn tennis, invented in 1873, was highly fashionable for the wealthy in England, and all of the Dod children started playing the game frequently. Tennis parties were occasionally organized and among the invited guests were future Wimbledon champions Joshua Pim and the brothers Herbert and Wilfred Baddeley. When she was eleven Dod joined the Rock Ferry Tennis Club in Birkenhead.
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