100 years ago today on 4 July 1925 the Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Final took place. On one side was a 26 year old Frenchwoman, the five times previous winner and the greatest female player in the pre-open era Suzanne Lenglen. Almost unbeatable she had won five times in a row 1919-23 only missing out in 1924 when she withdrew through illness. Opposing her was a 19 year old girl in her first major competition, Joan Fry a doctor's daughter from my home town of Stone, Staffordshire. 

Born in Horsham, Sussex in 1906 Joan moved with her family to Stone in 1920 when her father took up the position of physician in the town. They lived in the Mansion House which had a tennis court in the grounds. 

Joan defeated two fellow Brits in the First and Second rounds, then a South African in the Third round, an Australian in the Quarter-Final and a Frenchwoman in the Semi-Final to meet Lenglen in the Final. A measure of the Frenchwoman's dominance was that she did not drop a set on her way to the Final, in fact she lost only three games in five matches.

Predictably Lenglen won and won easily 6-2 6-0 to notch up her sixth Wimbledon title.

Joan would never reach another major Singles Final again. However she did reach the Final of the Women's Doubles in the 1927 US Championships with another Brit losing to another British pairing. Her last appearance in a Final was at Wimbledon in 1929 when she and her British partner lost in the Mixed Doubles to an Anglo-American pairing. 

She retired aged just 24 in 1930 after her marriage to a Royal Tank Corps officer. She died in 1985 aged 79. 

The house where she lived and practised her game is just four minutes' walk away. The grounds have been reduced with houses being built on the site of the tennis court, but the house itself still stands. 

This is film of the 1925 Final, Joan Fry is the one without the headband. 

And her wedding in London in 1930.