Muriel Robb

Robb attended the Cheltenham Ladies’ College, in Gloucestershire from 1893 to 1897 and was a member of the Jesmond Lawn Tennis Club in Newcastle

After 3 consecutive QF results at the Championships Robb was a surprise winner of the longest ladies final in Wimbledon history. In the 1902 championships she faced favored Charlotte Sterry. Muriel lost the first set 4-6 and then hung on take the second 13-11. Rain commenced before the third set. The next day all agreed to a best two of 3 set continuance. When Robb won 7-5 6-1 the score was 4-6 13-11 7-5 6-1-arguably the only 3 of 5 set ladies match in Wimbledon history, and the longest in games at 52. Robb also remains the only ladies champion who hailed from the north of England.

That was more or less the last we hear of miss Robb, who did not defend her title the following year. Poor health may have been a factor. Her early death in 1907, added only 28, makes her the youngest Wimbledon champion ever to die. The cause was cancer. She died in her home in Jesmond, just a few steps from the club she represented, which still stands. In 2011 Newcastle put up a plaque to celebrate her memory.

"Muriel did not play competitively for many years, but in the relatively short time that she did compete, she won all of the main national singles titles of the British Isles, namely those of England (Wimbledon), Ireland, Wales and Scotland. No man or woman had achieved this feat before her, and none has done so since"
(Mark Newman).

Some of her titles were like, the Welsh Championships, Derbyshire Championships in 1899, the Derbyshire Championships in 1900, the Irish and Scottish Championships 1901 and the Wimbledon and Derbyshire Championships in 1902.

She died of "Lymphadenoma 2 years 4 months” and “Exhaustion and cardiac failure”