As far as I can remember (I did have a record of this but can't find it right now), we've never had GB no. 1s in the 400s but there have definitely been times when either the GB men's no. 1 or the GB women's no. 1 was ranked in the 100-200 range.

Lucie was #1 with a ranking of 161 I think.

9vicman wrote:

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thegingerlightbulb wrote:

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With such a great start to the grass season, especially from Boulder and Draper, it got me wondering: I was a kid in the early 90s and vaguely remember our top male and female players only having a ranking in the 400s. I could be likely misremembering, this would have been somewhere between 92-94 just before the emergence of Henman and Greg etc. So probably a declining Jeremy Bates, and (I also seem to remember) and British woman with an American accent that got double bagled in round 1 of Wimbledon. 

 

Anyway, with us now having quite a healthy group in and around the top 100, does anyone know the answer to this question?

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 I think you're referring to US Brit  Monique Javer who was never double bagelled at Wimbledon, but she was at Roland Garros.

And Lucie Ahl was briefly British No. 1 with a career high ranking of No. 161. But Clare Wood was once year-end No. 1 ranked No. 186.

 

 

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 Hey Vicman! 

 

Quick question - youre not yet the new Lambda of the board but you're the closest thing we have  Seriously, where do you get your stats - do you remember that re Lucie Ahl, or do you go off googling, or have you got some tomes sitting on a shelf that say R for Rankings - who was the British Number One in 1986 type stuff? 

When you write these things, I remember them, but I dont have the recall at all and googling seems to take me in rabbit holes and wrong turns that make it a fool's game!!

 

According to Jeff Sackman's data, the lowest ranked GB #1 man was Jeremy Bates at 211 on 29 April 1991. That was the 2nd week of a 9 week spell when our #1 was outside the Top 200 (shared between Bates and Castle). The lowest ranked GB #1 women were at 224 - Lizzy Jelfs on 2 October 1995 and Clare Wood on 9 October 1995. The GB #1 woman was outside the top 200 between 12 June 1995 and 16 October 1995.

-- Edited by Lambda on Monday 17th of June 2024 05:28:33 PM

GB #1 woman ranking

thegingerlightbulb wrote:

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In terms of the American British player I remembered, I think it is this one: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Viollet

Weirdly, it appears there were three American raised British women who were all contemporaries of each other. I think Javer was the number 1 ranked, but Viollet was the one thrashed by Hingis, after beating the third British American woman- Meagan Miller. My memory probably just amalgamated all three of them together.

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Rachel Viollet was the daughter of Manchester United footballer Dennis Viollet. Born in UK but grew up in the States. She only lost 61 61 to Hingis so not quite the bagel.

Javer and Miller were both born in the States bur qualified to represent Britain through a parent.

I was going to suggest Lizzie Jelfs but see someone mentioned her earlier. I remember reading an issue of serve and volley magazine back in the day and thought it was something in the 200s. Glad to see one part of my memory isn't failing me.