In 1905, Ethel Larcombe won her first Queen’s Club Championships title.
Larcombe, who was born in Islington, England, went on to become one of the most successful players in British tennis history, winning six Queen’s singles titles across a 14-year period.
In fact, the British star remains the most successful player in Queen’s Club history.
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Upon winning her sixth and final title in 1919, Larcombe achieved a feat no other British player has been able to match since.
Ethel Larcombe won four consecutive Queen’s Club titles
Larcombe won her first Queen’s title in 1905, beating compatriot Edith Greville in the final.
Larcombe [pictured below] successfully defended her title a year later, beating Mildred Coles in the championship showpiece.
For five consecutive years, Larcombe did not make an appearance in the Queen’s Club final.
However, she returned in 1912, securing her third Queen’s title by beating Dorothy Holman 6-1, 6-0.
Larcombe made it two in a row in 1913, beating compatriot Aurea Edgington in the final round.
The Briton won her third title in as many years when she defeated Beryl Tulloch in the 1914 final.
Ethel Larcombe’s six Queen’s Club finals
- 1905: defeated Edith Greville
- 1906: defeated Mildred Coles
- 1912: defeated Dorothy Holman
- 1913: defeated Aurea Edgington
- 1914: defeated Beryl Tulloch
- 1919: defeated Dorothy Holman
The tournament was then paused for five years due to World War One.
Larcombe picked up where she left off in 1919, winning her fourth consecutive title.
The British player emerged victorious against Holman once again, winning 6–4, 8–6.
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The two other players who have won four consecutive Queen’s Club titles
Poland’s Jadwiga Jędrzejowska became the second player to win four consecutive Queen’s Club titles when she beat Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling in the 1939 final.
The Pole may have gone on to win many more titles in London, had World War Two not prevented the event from taking place between 1940 and 1945.
Around 27 years after Jędrzejowska’s final Queen’s triumph, Roy Emerson [pictured below, left] became the third – and last – player to win four consecutive titles in West London.
Emerson, a winner of 12 Grand Slam singles titles, won four straight titles between 1963 and 1967, beating Owen Davidson, Toomas Leius, Dennis Ralston, and Tony Roche in the four respective finals.
Remarkably, Emerson won his last two Queen’s Club finals via walkovers.
