Judy Dalton chats with Paul about her greatest love 28Oct19

An Australian Tennis champion, Judy Dalton (Tegart) AM is a nine times grand slam champion, winning doubles titles at Wimbledon, the US and French Opens and the Australian Open three times. She reached a career high world ranking of 7 in 1968 and she helped Australia win the Federation Cup in 1965 and 1970. Judy’s commitment to women’s tennis has a long history and her biggest contribution to global tennis is as a member of the Original ‘Virginia Slims 9’ who fought for equality of pay for women’s tennis which saw the beginning of the WTA, the most powerful women’s sporting association in the world. She also reached the singles semifinals at Wimbledon in 1971 at the age of 33, losing to Margaret Court in three sets, and at the Australian Championships in 1968, losing to Billie Jean King in three sets. Her last appearance at a Grand Slam tournament was the 1977 Australian Open where at the age of 40 she lost in the quarterfinals in straight sets to top-seeded and eventual champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley. Judy is current Patron of the Australian Women’s Federation Cup Foundation and is heading to Perth next week to attend the Federation Cup. Lucky for us she spends a few months of the year in Port Douglas and was kind enough to drop into our studios for a chat.