Kathleen MCKANE

With a bronze in the singles, a silver in the mixed doubles and a gold in the women’s doubles, Kitty McKane acquired a full set of medals at the 1920 Olympic Games. Her bronze medal in the 1920 singles was won in unique circumstances: as she wished to be at her best to partner Winifred McNair in the doubles she conceded a walkover in the semi-final fog the singles but still qualified to play in the match which she duly won against Sigrid Fick of Sweden to take the bronze medal. She won two more medals at the 1924 Games in Paris but despite a total of five Olympic medals she will be remembered for more notable successes in wider files. Although London-born, Kitty McKane learned her tennis at St. Leonard’s School in Scotland and made her tournament début at Roehampton in April 1919. A few weeks later she reached the quarter-finals on her first appearance at Wimbledon and soon took over the role of Britain’s number one player from Dorothy Lambert Chambers. By 1924 she had established herself as a world class player and confirmed her status by beating the great Helen Wills in the Wightman Cup, repeating the feat at Wimbledon a few days later. In a classic Wimbledon final, McKane lost the first set and trailed 1-4 in the second but came back to hand Helen Wills her only defeat in a singles match in nine appearances at Wimbledon.