Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers

Dorothea Lambert Chambers (née Dorothea Katherine Douglass, 3 September 1878 – 7 January 1960)^[1] was a British tennis player. She won seven Wimbledon women's singles titles and a gold medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics.^[2]

Dorothea Lambert Chambers

Full name	Dorothea Katherine Douglass Lambert Chambers
Country (sports)	United Kingdom
Born	(1878-09-03)3 September 1878 Ealing, Middlesex, England
Died	7 January 1960(1960-01-07) (aged 81) Kensington, London, England
Int. Tennis HoF	1981 (member page)
Singles
Grand Slam singles results
Wimbledon	W (1903, 1904, 1906, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914)
US Open	QF (1925)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Wimbledon	F (1913, 1919, 1920)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon	F (1919)
Team competitions
Wightman Cup	W (1925)
Medal record Olympic Games – Tennis 1908 London Singles

Tennis

In 1900, Douglass made her singles debut at Wimbledon, and after a bye in the first round, lost her second-round match to Louisa Martin. Three years later, she won her first of seven ladies singles titles. On 6 April 1907, she married Robert Lambert Chambers and was became known by her married surname Lambert Chambers.^[3][4]

In 1908, she won the gold medal in the women's singles event at the 1908 Summer Olympics after a straight-sets victory in the final against compatriot Dora Boothby.^[5]

She wrote Tennis for Ladies, published in 1910. The book contained photographs of tennis techniques and contained advice on attire and equipment.

In 1911, Lambert Chambers won the women's final at Wimbledon against Dora Boothby 6–0, 6–0, the first player to win a Grand Slam singles final without losing a game.^[6] The only other female player to achieve this was Steffi Graf when she defeated Natalia Zvereva in the 1988 French Open final.^[7]

In 1919, Lambert Chambers played the longest Wimbledon final up to that time: 44 games against Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen. Lambert Chambers held two match points at 6–5 in the third set but eventually lost to Lenglen 8–10, 6–4, 7–9.^[8]

Lambert Chambers only played sporadic singles after 1921 but continued to compete in doubles until 1927. She made the singles quarterfinals of the U.S. Championships in 1925,^[9] and from 1924 to 1926, she captained Britain's Wightman Cup team. In the 1925 Wightman Cup, she played, at the age of 46, a singles (against Eleanor Goss) and doubles match and won both.^[10][11] In 1928 she turned to professional coaching.

Lambert Chambers posthumously was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1981.^[12] She died in Kensington, London in January 1960.

Grand Slam finals

 

Dorothea Lambert Chambers in 1906

Singles: 11 (7 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponents	Score
Win *	1903	Wimbledon	Grass	Ethel Thomson	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
Win	1904	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Charlotte Cooper Sterry	6–0, 6–3
Loss	1905	Wimbledon	Grass	May Sutton	3–6, 4–6
Win	1906	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	May Sutton	6–3, 9–7
Loss	1907	Wimbledon	Grass	May Sutton	1–6, 4–6
Win	1910	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	Dora Boothby	6–2, 6–2
Win	1911	Wimbledon (5)	Grass	Dora Boothby	6–0, 6–0
Win **	1913	Wimbledon (6)	Grass	Winifred McNair	6–0, 6–4
Win	1914	Wimbledon (7)	Grass	Ethel Thomson Larcombe	7–5, 6–4
Loss	1919	Wimbledon	Grass	Suzanne Lenglen	8–10, 6–4, 7–9
Loss	1920	Wimbledon	Grass	Suzanne Lenglen	3–6, 0–6

^* This was the all-comers final as Muriel Robb did not defend her 1902 Wimbledon title, which resulted in the winner of the all-comers final winning the challenge round, and thus, Wimbledon in 1903 by walkover.
^** This was the all-comers final as Ethel Thomson Larcombe did not defend her 1912 Wimbledon title, which resulted in the winner of the all-comers final winning the challenge round and, thus, Wimbledon in 1913 by walkover.

Doubles: 3 runner-ups

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1913	Wimbledon	Grass	Charlotte Cooper Sterry	Dora Boothby   Winifred McNair	6–4, 4–2, ret.
Loss	1919	Wimbledon	Grass	Ethel Thomson Larcombe	Suzanne Lenglen   Elizabeth Ryan	6–4, 5–7, 3–6
Loss	1920	Wimbledon	Grass	Ethel Thomson Larcombe	Suzanne Lenglen   Elizabeth Ryan	4–6, 0–6

Mixed doubles: 1 runner-up

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1919	Wimbledon	Grass	Albert Prebble	Elizabeth Ryan   Randolph Lycett	0–6, 0–6

Badminton

In addition to playing tennis, Lambert Chambers was one of the leading badminton players at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1903, 1904 and 1907, she was the runner-up at the singles event of the All England Badminton Championships.^[13]

Personal life

During the First World War, she undertook war work, first at Ealing Hospital, and later at the Little Theatre.^[14] She married Robert Lambert Chambers, nephew of John Graham Chambers.

References

1. Grasso, John (16 September 2011). Historical Dictionary of Tennis. Scarecrow Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-8108-7237-0.
2. "Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
3. Hartley, Cathy, ed. (2003). A Historical Dictionary of British Women (Rev. ed.). London [u.a.]: Europa Publications. p. 194. ISBN 978-1857432282.
4. "Men and Matters". Dundee Courier. 8 April 1907. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. . sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
6. Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers at the International Tennis Hall of Fame  
7. ROBIN HERMAN (5 June 1988). "TENNIS – Graf Shuts Out Zvereva to Gain French Open Title". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
8. "Ladies' Lawn Tennis". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 June 1911. p. 7 – via National Library of Australia.
9. "Encyclopædia Britannica Biography". Retrieved 6 May 2013.
10. "British Women in Tennis Victories". The Montreal Gazette. 18 August 1925 – via Google News Archive.
11. "Woman at Tennis". The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 August 1925 – via Google News Archive.
12. . www.tennisfame.com. International Tennis Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
13. . Badminton England. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
14. The Sportswoman's Page, The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 22 December 1917, p. 508

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dorothea Douglass.

• Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers at the International Tennis Hall of Fame  
• Works by Lambert Chambers at Project Gutenberg
• Book Lawn Tennis for Ladies at Archive.org