Margaret Smith Court

When Court was seventeen years old, she lost in the finals of the Australian Junior Open Championship, but she also made the finals of the main draw, the Australian Open. Thus, Court won her first Grand Slam (defeating Jan Lehane) when she was only seventeen years and six months old. She was the youngest to ever win the Australian Open.

Court was still an amateur, and though she could have gone to Europe and played on the women's tennis circuit, she did not think she had the stamina nor the speed yet. After winning in the Australian Open, she played in New Zealand and did not do well. For the next year, she worked harder in her training and learned how to deal with the press despite her shyness.