Top 5+ Wimbledon champs connected to Palm Beach County. Could Coco Gauff make it 6?
The Delray Tennis Center, which opened in 1974, has been a hub for women's tennis. It hosted the former Virginia Slims Tournament and the Billie Jean King Fed and Davis cups.
Titles earned by the top tennis athletes who have lived in this county reach back into the 1970s and continue through present times.
Delray Beach's own tennis star Coco Gauff scored a hard-fought victory over Aryna Sabalenka on June 7 to bring home the French Open title. But sadly she was out in the first round of Wimbledon, losing to Dayana Yastremska in straight sets.
Still the Wimbledon trophy has arrived in Palm Beach County in the past.
At least five women's champions who have lived or stayed in a county where tennis thrives, drawing several elite professional players.
Evert Tennis Academy Boca Raton has trained many college and elite professionals. It is operated and owned by Chris Evert and her brother John.
Chris Evert holds 3 Wimbledon victories, several appearances in the finals, lived in Boca Raton
Chris Evert, 70, one of the greatest female tennis players of all time, won her fair share of Wimbledon championships and has spent most of her life in Boca Raton.
She won Wimbledon in 1974, 1976 and 1981. Now she covers the tournament each year as a color commmentator. She called the Gauff-Sabalenka final in the French.
Though she was born in Fort Lauderdale, she moved to Boca at age 16 and raised her three sons born during her second marriage to Olympic skier Andy Mill here. She bought her house on 5 acres in 2003 and sold it in 2018. She still owns the tennis academy with her brother and helps coach the tennis team at Saint Andrews School, where she also coached her three sons.
She was briefly married to professional golfer Greg Norman, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, in 2008. The marriage lasted about a year.
Martina Navratilova held wedding reception in Palm Beach
Martina Navratilova sits on her racket as she waits for play to resume during the final match of the day at the Chris Evert/Raymond James 2014 Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic in Delray Beach Sunday, November 23, 2014. Navratilova was paired with Gavin Rossdale against Jon Lovitz and Chris Evert.
Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova, 68, is the queen at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. She not only holds the most Wimbledon titles but the most consecutive.
She won the titles in 1978-79, 1982-87 and in 1990.
She doesn't live in Palm Beach County, but her wedding reception was held in Palm Beach on Valentine's Day 2015, a few months after she got married and she has often visited her good friend, Evert.
Evert attended the reception for Navratilova and Julie Lemigova. The couple tied the knot at the Peninsula Hotel in New York City the previous December. It's not clear where the reception occurred on the island.
Navratilova and Lemigova got engaged in September 2014 during a U.S. Open Tennis Channel interview when Navratilova turned to Lemigova, got down on one knee and produced a diamond ring.
They live in Miami Beach and own a farm in Broward County. Lemigova is a cast member of "The Real Housewives of Miami."
Steffi Graf dated Andre Agassi while she owned Boca Raton home
Kim Clijsters (from left) Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf and Andy Roddick after playing a Mixed-Doubles Exhibition Match at the Breakers March 21, 2025 in Palm Beach. T
Though she represented West Germany while she competed, Graf, 55, bought a second home at the height of her game in 1989 at the Polo Club of Boca Raton. She owned it through a stalking episode, dating and marrying fellow tennis great Andre Agassi and having their two babies.
It was sold in 2003 when the family moved to Las Vegas, where Agassi grew up.
Graf's first Grand Slam title was at the French in 1987 and her last before she retired in 1999. In between, she added four more — in 1988, 1993 and 1995-96.
She and Agassi first started seeing each other in 1999 when she was 30.
A man was charged with trespassing in 1992 at Polo Club after trying a number of times to contact Graf. He said he was a terrorist and wanted to harm the West German native.
Venus Williams the first sister to win Wimbledon
Venus Williams (left) sits in one of the newly upgraded suites at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium designed by her V Starr Interiors firm with vice president Sonya Haffey in Jupiter on July 27, 2018.
Venus Williams, 45, along with her sister Serena has lived in Palm Beach Gardens for years. She moved here from California with her family at age 11 to train.
Before the powerhouse of Serena emerged, Venus had her own run of success.
She was the first African-American woman to reach No. 1 on the tour in the open era, second to Althea Gibson, who was No. 1 in the amateur era.
She won five Wimbledon championships — in 2000-01, 2005 and 2007-08. And she has not officially retired from tennis.
Always a fashion icon on the court, Venus went to school for fashion design at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in 2007 and a bachelor's in business administration in 2015. She's CEO of an interior design firm based in Jupiter called V Starr Interiors.
Venus' SUV was hit in 2017 at the intersection of Northlake Boulevard and Ballenisles Drive. She was headed into the development where she lives. A 78-year-old man was killed.
At first police put the blame on Venus. But after reviewing video, they decided Venus was not at fault.
Queen Serena Williams lives in Palm Beach Gardens
Serena Williams, 43, considered the greatest women's tennis player of all time, moved to Palm Beach County with her tennis star sister Venus when she was 9 in order to be coached by Rick Macci in Boca Raton.
Williams owns 23 Grand Slam titles, seven from Wimbledon in 2002-03, 2009-10, 2012 and 2015-16.
Serena Williams hugs Collin Morikawa of Los Angeles Golf Club. Williams and her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, co-own the the team, after a TGL match at SoFi Center on February 4, 2025, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Together they bought a property with an 8,500-square-foot home featuring two master suites in Ballenisles in 2000, according to Palm Beach County official records. Serena in 2001 bought a property with her mother in Jupiter's Abacoa. She has owned a number of north county properties along with her husband, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian.
Coco Gauff, the newest star, has family rooted in Delray Beach
Coco Gauff's family moved to Delray Beach when she was 7, but The Palm Beach Post learned recently that Gauff was actually born at West Boca Medical Center. She came early, during her mother's baby shower, so despite her parents living in Atlanta at the time, she's a true Palm Beach County native.
The shower, which carried on without Candi, Coco's mother, was hosted at the home of Coco's grandmother, Yvonne Lee Odom, who in 1961 was the first Black student to attend Delray Beach's all-white Seacrest High School.
Yvonne Odom and her husband, Eddie Odom Jr., founded the Delray Beach American Little League to extend the sport to kids in mostly Black neighborhoods not covered by the other league.
Gauff grew up in Delray Beach, training at Pompey Park.
Gauff credits her neighbors to the north in Palm Beach County as her inspiration.
"Serena Williams has always been my idol...and Venus," she has said. "They are the reason why I wanted to pick up a tennis racquet."
Holly Baltz is an editor at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at [email protected].
