TIME Magazine

Little Miss Moffitt

Posted Jul. 06, 1962 Any girl could be pardoned for having the trembles, and no one, least of all Wimbledon's seeding committee, expected much else of Billie Jean Moffitt. Though she had won a handful of minor U.S. titles, the chunky, bespectacled little Californian was only 18 and had never won a major singles tournament; at Wimbledon last year, she lost out in the very first match. The seeding committee gave her a first-round bye. And then it sent her up against Australia's No. 1-seeded Margaret Smith, a big girl with a big game, virtually undefeated in the past ten months, winner of the Australian, French and Italian titles, a 4-5 favorite to win at Wimbledon, go on to take the U.S. title, and complete a grand slam of women's tennis.

So hot and hoity was the 19-year-old Australian that she had decided to quit the touring Australian team for her own private tour, and was busily engaged in a feud with Team Manager Nell Hopman.

At Wimbledon last week, she started off as if she wanted to blast little Miss Moffitt clean off the center court. With her devastating serve and sizzling ground shots, she clipped off the first set, giving up only one game. But then everything came apart. With a series of three neatly placed "chalk" shots—two backhands and a forehand—Billie Jean broke Margaret's service in the second set, went on to win it 6-3. In the final set, the angry Aussie star built up a 4-1 lead, then 5-2. But Billie Jean refused to quit, fought back to lead 6-5. At match point, Billie Jean slashed a backhand volley into the corner that the bewildered Margaret could only wave at as it whizzed by.

Two days later, Billie Jean dispatched Fellow Californian Carole Caldwell 7-5, 6-3, and advanced into the fourth round, where she soundly trounced Austria's best, Sonja Pachta 6-1, 6-2. Billie Jean might not win another match, but she would leave staid old Wimbledon in a lovely dither. Never before in the 79-year history of the tournament had the No. 1-seeded woman been defeated in the first match.