Angela Mortimer

The 'frail' Wimbledon, French and Australian grand slam winner who made tactical brilliance her hallmark

- Patrick Kidd

The 1961 Wimbledon ladies singles final, the first between two British players since 1914, was a clash of styles.

The 20-year-old Christine Truman was younger than Angela Mortimer by nine years, taller and more physical. Mortimer was slight and prone to illness but she had court craft and dogged persistence. Unlike most women, she also played in shorts. It was only 30 years earlier that Joan Lycett had been the first to play at Wimbledon without stockings.

One thing the women had in common was a sensory disability. Mortimer was partially deaf, which gave her a reputation for rudeness when she simply wasn't able to hear, while Truman had been almost blind in her left eye since childhood.

The Times described the final as "a battle of the tactical brain of the frail Miss Mortimer against the power of Miss Truman". On a rainy day, the younger player won the first set and was leading in the second when a shot from Mortimer deflected off the net cord. Truman slipped as she changed direction and tweaked an old achilles problem. Sniffing a vulnerability, Mortimer played lobs and drop shots to make her opponent run around. "When you're not built like an Amazon you have to use your brains more," she said.