Lambert Chambers, Dorothea

Dorothea Douglass was born on September 3, 1878 in Ealing , located in Middlesex County, near London . She was the second daughter of the parish priest Henry Charles Douglass and his wife Clara Collick. She started playing tennis at an early age, and then became a member of the local tennis club Ealing Commons Lawn Tennis Club ^[4] .

In 1900, Dorothea Douglass took part in her first Wimbledon tournament , in the quarter finals of which she lost to Irish 4-6, 3-6. In 1901, Douglass retired in the second round, and in 1902 reached the semifinals, where in a bitter struggle she lost to the future winner of this tournament - her compatriot Muriel Robb 4-6, 6-2, 7-9 ^{[5] [6]} .

Dorothea Douglass won the first victory at the Wimbledon tournament in 1903, at the age of 24. She reached the final, where with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, she beat her compatriot Ethel Thomson (better known by the name Larcombe, which she received after marriage). According to the rules of that time, the winner of the final among the challengers was supposed to play the title match (“challenge-round”) with last year’s tournament winner Muriel Robb , but she refused to defend the title, so Douglass was declared champion ^{[4] [6] [ 7]} .

Dorothy Douglass managed to defend her title in 1904, winning a match-up match with the winner of the tournament of challengers Charlotte Cooper-Sterry with a score of 6-0, 6-3, but in 1905 she lost the same match with American 3- Mei Sutton with a score of 3 6, 4-6 ^[6] . At the Wimbledon tournament in 1906, Dorothea Douglass again had to play matches of the tournament challengers, in the final of which she beat Charlotte Cooper-Sterry, and in the match-up match she won last year's champion May Sutton 6-3, 9-7, thereby regaining herself honorary title ^{[6] [7]} .

On April 3, 1907, Dorothea Douglass married Robert Lambert Chambers ( Robert Lambert Chambers ), and has since acted under the name Lambert Chambers ^[4] , which in competition protocols often shortened to just Chambers ^[6] . In the 1907 Wimbledon tournament, Dorothea Lambert-Chambers lost the challenge match Mei Sutton 1–6, 4–6 and lost the championship title. At the tournament in 1908, she lost in the quarter-finals of the tournament challengers Charlotte Cooper-Sterry 3-6, 5-7 ^[6] .

In July 1908, Dorothea Lambert-Chambers took part in the women's singles tennis tournament of the Summer Olympics , which took place in London . Before the tournament, several tennis players withdrew from the competition, so that as a result, only British athletes took part in the tournament. Lambert Chambers began her performance from the quarter finals, where she defeated , and in the semifinals she beat Ruth Winch . The final match took place on July 11, 1908, and in it Lambert Chambers won in two sets against Dora Boothby , winning the Olympic gold medal ^[8] .

At the Wimbledon tournament in 1909, Dorothea Lambert Chambers did not act, waiting for the birth of her first child (she had two sons altogether) ^[4] . During this period, she also wrote her first book, Tennis on the Grass for Ladies ( English Lawn Tennis for Ladies ), published in 1910 ^{[4] [9]} .

In 1910, Dorothea Lambert Chambers again participated in the Wimbledon tournament. She won the contenders tournament, defeating Edith Johnson in the final, and in the match, she won the last-year winner Dora Boothby 6-2, 6-2, thereby regaining the champion title after a three-year break ^{[6] [7]} .

A year later, at the Wimbledon tournament in 1911, Lambert Chambers managed to defend her title in the “challenge-round” match, in which she defeated Dora Boothby with a score of 6-0, 6-0 ^[6] , and this match lasted only 25 minutes ^[7] . Waiting for the birth of her second child, Lambert Chambers missed the Wimbledon tournament in 1912 ^[4] , and Ethel Larcombe became the champion, winning the contenders tournament ^[6] .

In 1913, Dorothea Lambert Chambers again took part in the Wimbledon tournament. Since last year's champion Ethel Larcombe refused to defend the title, the winner was determined in the final tournament of the contenders in which Lambert-Chambers won against her compatriot Winifred McNair 6-0, 6-4, and again regained the champion title ^{[6] [7]} . At the same Wimbledon tournament, Lambert Chambers participated in the women's doubles competition, playing along with Charlotte Cooper-Sterry . They reached the final of the competition, where, with the score 6-4, 4-2, they could not continue the fight and lost to another British couple - Winifred McNair and Dore Boothby ^[10] .

In 1914, 35-year-old Lambert-Chambers managed to defend the championship title in the match-up match against the winner of the tournament of the challengers Eteli Larcombe, in which she won with a score of 7-5, 6-4 ^{[6] [7]} . It was the seventh and, as it turned out, the last victory of Lambert Chambers in the Wimbledon tournament. In the women's doubles competition, again speaking with Charlotte Cooper-Sterry, they reached the semi-finals ^[10] . Over the next four years, from 1915 to 1918, the Wimbledon tournament was not held due to the First World War ^[4] .

At the first post-war Wimbledon tournament held in 1919, 40-year-old Dorothea Lambert-Chambers defended her championship title in a match-up match against 20-year-old French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen . This match lasted 125 minutes ^[7] , and it is considered one of the most stubborn and entertaining in the entire history of the tournament. In the first set in a long and hard struggle with a score of 10-8 won Lenglen. In the second set, the experienced Lambert Chambers managed to win: she won 6-4, and the score for the sets was 1-1. In the third, decisive set, Lenglen comes out first - 4-1, but Lambert-Chambers manages to restore balance and even get ahead. With the score 6-5 in favor of Lambert Chambers, she leads 40-15, which means double matchball. By some miracle, Lenglen managed to recoup and win the third set with a score of 9-7. Thus, winning this dramatic match with a score of 10-8, 4-6, 9-7, Suzanne Lenglen became the champion of the Wimbledon tournament ^{[4] [11]} .

At the Wimbledon tournament in 1919, Dorothea Lambert-Chambers took part in pair competitions. In the women's doubles, her partner was Ethel Larcombe , and they reached the final, in which they lost to Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan ^[10] . In the mixed doubles competition, she competed with , and they also reached the final, where they lost to and Elizabeth Ryan ^[12] .

A year later, at the 1920 Wimbledon tournament, 41-year-old Dorothea Lambert-Chambers was able to win the contenders tournament by beating American Elizabeth Ryan in the final, so she again met Suzanne Lenglen in the match-game. This time Lambert Chambers lost 3-6, 0-6 ^[6] . Last year’s story was repeated in the women's doubles: Lambert Chambers and Ethel Larcombe reached the final in which they again lost to Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan ^[10] .

The 1920 tournament was the last Wimbledon tournament in which Dorothea Lambert-Chambers competed in singles ^[6] . In the 1920s, she continued to compete in doubles competitions. Up until 1927, she participated in the women's and mixed doubles competitions of the Wimbledon tournament and reached the semifinals several times: three times (in 1923, 1924 and 1925) among female pairs ^[10] and once (in 1925) among mixed pairs ^{[ 12]} .

In 1925, Lambert Chambers was captain of the British team at the Whiteman Cup match against the US team, in which she won her singles and doubles, thanks to which the UK team defeated the Americans with a score of 4-3. She also took part in the 1926 Whiteman Cup , in which the US team beat the British with a score of 4-3 ^[4] .

When Dorothea Lambert Chambers in 1927 stopped playing in tournaments, she was almost 49 years old. Starting in 1928, she began working as a professional tennis coach ^[4] .

Dorothea Lambert-Chambers died on January 7, 1960 in Kensington ( London district) at the age of 81. In 1981, her name was included in the list of members of the International Tennis Hall of Fame ^[13] . For the hundred years that have passed since the last, seventh victory of Lambert Chambers in the women's singles at the Wimbledon tournament, only three athletes were able to surpass or repeat her result: Martina Navratilova (9 wins from 1978 to 1990), Helen Wills-Moody (8 wins in the period from 1927 to 1938) and Steffi Graf (7 wins in the period from 1988 to 1996) ^[7] .

Wimbledon Finals

Singles: 11 Finals (7 wins - 4 losses)

Doubles: 3 finals (3 losses)

Mixed doubles: 1 final (1 loss)

Olympics: 1 final (1 win)

• Dorothea Douglass Chambers , International Tennis Hall of Fame, www.tennisfame.com
• Dorothy Lambert Chambers , SR / Olympic Sports, www.sports-reference.com
• Dorothea Lambert Chambers , Encyclopædia Britannica, www.britannica.com
• Works by Dorothea Lambert Chambers , Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org