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The First Woman to Win a Major Tennis Tournament
Women's singles began at Wimbledon in 1884 and at the US Championships in 1887. How the Grand Slam events grew, up to 1967, the last amateur year.
Science, Firsts and Sport
The history of womens singles at the Grand Slam tournaments, region by region, from the 1880s to the 1967 amateur era.
Start here · Essential guide
Women's singles began at Wimbledon in 1884 and at the US Championships in 1887. How the Grand Slam events grew, up to 1967, the last amateur year.
None of the four Grand Slams is played in Asia. The real milestones belong to Li Na, who won in 2011 and 2014, and to Naomi Osaka, and none came in 1967.
Two Grand Slams are played in Europe. Maud Watson won the first Wimbledon women's title in 1884, and Suzanne Lenglen became the continent's first great star.
The US hosts the continent's only Grand Slam, but Canada has its own story: Bianca Andreescu became the first Canadian to win a major singles title in 2019.
The Australasian Championships began in 1905, with women's singles added in the 1920s. The event became the Australian Open, and Margaret Court its great champion.
No Grand Slam is held in South America, but Brazil's Maria Bueno won Wimbledon and the US title between 1959 and 1966 and became a global star.
The US National Championships added women's singles in 1887. Forest Hills hosted it for decades, and Althea Gibson broke barriers there in 1957 and 1958.
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