The Queens champion who reigned for half a century

The Queens champion who reigned for half a century

When Olga Morozova lifted the biggest trophy of her career, she might not have thought she would be the reigning champion for more than 50 years.

But next week she will finally lose her crown when the Queens Club Championships stages a womens event for the first time since 1973.

The winner will get a new trophy, which has the previous champions engraved on it, as the original one could not be located.

And the tennis world itself is also a different one to Morozovas days of wooden racquets and taking public transport to events.

As Queens prepares to welcome todays players to its grass courts on Monday, Morozova reflects on a time when rain meant matches were moved indoors on to a tricky wooden court, the event was sponsored by a tobacco company and her prize money for the title was £1,000.

Olga Morozova beat Evonne Goolagong 6–2 6–3 in the Queens final

For Moscow-born Morozova, prize money was not especially relevant.

"I came from the Soviet Union. We were not professional, we were amateurs. The money which I won not only here but in Wimbledon, everywhere else, was going to our federation," the 76-year-old said.

"They paid for my trip, they paid for my coach, they paid for my whatever."

That "whatever" would have included transport and accommodation.

"We arrived at Queens by Tube," she said. "We were staying in Earls Court in a B&B. It was not a very good B&B, I think the toilets and the showers were three floors [apart]… You shared with other people, it was normal for everyone at that time.

"For Wimbledon, we had a car - imagine coming out of the B&B, down the stairs and you have the Rolls Royce with the driver with white gloves waiting for you and opening the door."

It may not have been Wimbledon but Queens was a prestigious event. Chris Evert and Margaret Court were in the field, along with Evonne Goolagong, whom a 24-year-old Morozova upset in straight sets in the final without dropping serve.

It was a surprise result to most, but not to Morozova.

"I remember I played well," she said. "Beforehand I was feeling the ball good and I already knew Evonne and knew how to play her, and grass was my very favourite surface."

Since the prize cheque was not going to her pocket and there was no replica trophy to take away, the main benefit - prestige aside - was relief that the decision to seed her for Wimbledon for the first time had been vindicated.

In the days before the computerised rankings system, seedings - which ensure top players do not meet very early in a tournament - were decided by panels of experts.

"I was seeded eight at Wimbledon, and everybody was saying Oh, my God, why is she seeded? But finally I won the tournament and I was actually feeling quite good because now they know why I was seeded!"

Morozovas serve-and-volley game was well suited to grass - she was the Wimbledon junior champion in 1965 and won several titles on the surface.

She reached the Wimbledon final in 1974, losing to Evert just weeks after losing the French Open final to the American. But together, they earned the womens doubles title at Roland Garros, making Morozova the first Russian to win a Grand Slam title.

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The original womens singles Queens Club trophy is missing

As Queens staged what would be its last womens tournament for 52 years, a huge moment for womens tennis was taking place at a hotel nearby in west London.

On 21 June 1973, Billie Jean King gathered a group of women to unite players from rival tours into a single organisation that became the WTA (Womens Tennis Association), creating a first truly global professional sports tour and sparking a substantial increase in prize money.

In between darting to furtive meetings about the fledgling movement, King managed to win the womens doubles at Queens that week.

Since then, women tennis players have earned considerably more than Morozovas generation. Today, seven of the worlds 10 highest-earning female sports stars are tennis players.

But although the Grand Slams now offer equal prize money for men and women, there is disparity elsewhere. At other tournaments, minimum prize money levels are set by the tours.

When she won the title, Morozova won £1,000 - the equivalent of around £15,000 now. The 2025 champion will take home $218,000 (£161,000) - over 10 times more in real terms.

Morozovas prize was half of what Ilie Nastase won that year in the mens singles. This year, the mens champion at Queens will receive around two and a half times more than the womens.

The LTA has pledged to introduce equal prize money at Queens and Eastbourne by 2029.

The total prize fund for this years WTA event at Queens will be $1.415m (£1.043m), with the LTA voluntarily increasing the standard prize money by a third.

However, the prize fund for the men competing at the same venue the following week is 2.522m euros (£2.122m).

The WTA is aiming for parity in prize money by 2033, and tournament director Laura Robson said at the Queens launch earlier this year: "The LTA definitely would love to hit that marker well before the WTA Tour but to do that we need a successful event, we need people to come and watch and to get excited about it.

"It doesnt start at all or nothing. We have to build the way that the tournaments run and eventually get to that marker of equal prize money but its something Im all for as a former player."

Morozova herself did remark, though, that the prize money on offer was "good".

"Of course I want the girls to have more but at the same time I think that it will come," she added.

Olga Morozova has helped to design the new trophy and will be celebrated at the tournament

After her playing career ended, Morozova became a coach in her native country but then spent many years at the LTA.

As recently as last summer, she was working with British player Harriet Dart, who reached the third round at Wimbledon. Morozova is also full of praise for the two leading British hopes at this years Queens.

She says British number one Katie Boulter, a multiple title-winner on grass, "knows her own game so well" and always produces "simple but very good quality strokes".

Emma Raducanu, meanwhile, "is improving her technical side… [but] needs to be a little bit more patient with herself and her coaches" because her stunning run to the 2021 US Open title put her under significant scrutiny and pressure.

Morozova, who also once coached Robson, believes the return of a womens event at Queens will be a huge boost for British players.

"They will have more experience on the grass," she said. "They will know how to play on grass, they will have a little bit better opportunity to perform much better at that high level."

The tournament has pulled in seven of the worlds top 15 players. Whoevers name comes after Morozovas on the new trophy will have come through a very competitive field.

Before that, Queens will pay tribute to its most recent female champion during this years event, something Morozova, who is now a grandmother, says is "a huge surprise" because she won "a long time ago".

"Im just very pleased Im still alive!" she said. "I can come here and its very nice that I am actually recognised for what I did. Its lovely."