We might not have a Wimbledon women’s singles final this year but there are some classics to look back on.
With so many great matches over the years, it has been hard to choose the very best, but our expert panel has done exactly that.
BBC One will count down their top 10 choices on Wimbledon: The Greatest Final on Saturday (14:15 BST).
Before that, though, we thought we’d ask you which one from their shortlist you would pick as your favourite… and it was tighter than a three-set classic.
1. Lindsay Davenport v Venus Williams, 2005
Williams won 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 9-7
This epic remains the longest Wimbledon women’s final at two hours 45 minutes – and it proved to be the longest to linger in your memories. With 17% of the vote, it is your greatest.
Venus Williams claimed her third singles title at the All England Club with victory over fellow American and world number one Lindsay Davenport.
Davenport had served for the match at 6-5 in the second set but was broken, and had a match point in the third.
But Williams kept fighting and, as Davenport struggled with a back strain, broke in game 15 to enable her to then serve out the win. Williams, the 14th seed, became the lowest-seeded female player to win it.
2. Maria Sharapova v Serena Williams, 2004
Sharapova won 6-1 6-4
A close second, with 15% of the vote, was this shock. Serena Williams was chasing a hat-trick of titles when she came up against 17-year-old Sharapova.
The young Russian stunned Centre Court by taking the first set in 30 minutes and then held her nerve to seal her first Grand Slam title.
Sharapova’s power was too much for the American, who had been a break up in the second set.
It had been Sharapova’s first major final and she became the first Russian woman to win the Wimbledon title.
3. Steffi Graf v Martina Navratilova, 1988
Graf won 5-7 6-2 6-1
Navratilova had won the previous six Wimbledon titles in a row when she came up against then 19-year-old Graf, who was chasing her first. This classic took 14% of your vote.
The German struggled at first but went on to collect what would become the first of seven singles titles at the All England Club.
Graf squandered a 5-3 lead in the first set and went a break down in the second before turning the match around with her trademark powerful forehands and speed around the court.
Navratilova later said the moment marked “the end of a chapter, passing the torch”, while the victory for Graf formed part of a ‘Golden Slam’ where she won all four Grand Slams plus Olympic gold in the same year.
4. Jana Novotna v Nathalie Tauziat, 1998
Novotna won 6-4 7-6 (7-2)
It was third time lucky for Novotna – five years after being consoled by the Duchess of Kent when she lost to Graf and a year after defeat by Martina Hingis in the final.
Both Novotna and Tauziat were seeking a maiden Grand Slam title, but it was the Czech who triumphed to shrug off her ‘choker’ label.
There were lots of tears again when Novotna fell to her knees at the end but this time they were tears of joy.
Novotna finally had her hands on the trophy she had so coveted and the Duchess said to her: “What’s all the fuss about? I told you last year you would come back and win.”
5. Betty Stove v Virginia Wade, 1977
Wade won 4-6 6-3 6-1
Briton Wade’s triumph came in the Queen’s Silver Jubilee year and has become one of the tournament’s most memorable victories.
Watched by the Queen, she beat the Dutchwoman to become only the third British woman to lift the title since World War Two.
And 43 years on, she remains the last.
With Stove 12 points from victory in the second set, Wade turned the match around by winning seven games in a row to set herself on the way to a famous win.
6. Steffi Graf v Gabriela Sabatini, 1991
Graf won 6-4 3-6 8-6
These great rivals were seeded one and two and had both reached the final without dropping a set.
Sabatini served for the match twice and came within two points of the title but it was not to be.
Graf clinched her third Wimbledon title to put behind her a difficult 18 months where she had not won a Grand Slam, had injuries and lost the number one world ranking.
The defeat proved to be Sabatini’s third and last Grand Slam final.
7. Steffi Graf v Jana Novotna, 1993
Graf won 7-6 (8-6) 1-6 6-4
Who can forget Novotna’s tears in the arms of the Duchess of Kent?
The Czech had played a brilliant match – her serve-and-volley tactics ideally suited to the court – and had been serving for a 5-1 lead in the third set.
But then she hit a double fault and it all went wrong.
Even Graf admitted her joy at winning was short-lived when she saw just how devastated her opponent was.
Novotna lost the 1997 final to Martina Hingis, but eventually triumphed the following year.
8. Chris Evert v Martina Navratilova, 1978
Navratilova won 2-6 6-4 7-5
Navratilova won the first of her record nine Wimbledon singles titles with this victory over her good friend Evert, with whom she went on to share one of the sport’s greatest rivalries.
It had looked as though Evert was on her way to her third Wimbledon title, having taken the first set. But midway through the second Navratilova rushed to the net and was hit on the head by an Evert forehand. She fell over theatrically but got up with a smile and went on to take the set to draw level.
“I think when she hit me, that woke me up,” Navratilova said later.
Evert had a 4-2 lead in the final set but Navratilova fought back and, with the score at 5-4, Navratilova took 12 of the last 13 points to claim the first of her 18 Grand Slam singles crowns.
9. Chris Evert v Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, 1976
Evert won 6-3 4-6 8-6
American great Evert said after this victory that it had been a “battle of the minds”.
The pair shared the first two sets before a nail-biting decider – Evert served for the match at 5-4 but Australian Goolagong-Cawley won eight points in a row to leave Evert then serving to stay in it.
The American held and then broke before serving it out and claiming the title with a lob.
It was Evert’s second Wimbledon title in three years.
10. Billie Jean King v Ann Jones, 1969
Jones won 3-6 6-3 6-2
Billie Jean King was the three-time defending champion and Britain’s Jones had lost to her in the final two years earlier.
Jones had a brilliant win over Australian Margaret Court in the semi-finals to get here but few expected her to repeat the feat.
King eased through the first set but then Jones – boosted by a partisan Centre Court crowd – battled her way back to take the second and swept through the third.
It was the greatest moment of her career and she also became the first left-handed woman to win a Wimbledon singles title.
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Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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