The tennis-obsessed youngster would play for hours on end against a wall or a water tank, at the time thinking the tournament was merely the stuff of fairy tales.
“I read this princess magazine story,” recalls the 63-year-old seven-time Grand Slam singles winner in an interview with CNN Open Court at the Australian Open.
“One story was about this girl who trained and was taken to this place called Wimbledon where she won on this magical court.
“I didn’t know it was for real but she said ‘yes, this place exists in England’.”
From that moment henceforth, the wall or water tank was the net at the All England Club, the concrete under her feet the hallowed grass turf graced by so many past champions.
“Every time I went to sleep at night, I would dream about playing at that magical center court and every time I hit the wall I would pretend I was there.”
Goolagong Cawley’s fairy tale came true.
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“I didn’t realize they were writing about me before I got there,” she recalls. “They didn’t normally put a young person first time at Wimbledon on center court but they did with me.
“It really scared the hell out of me and I wanted to get off the court as quickly as possible and I did.”
On her return the following year in 1971, she beat the great Margaret Court and fellow Australian in the final, although graciously insists that was only because her opponent was pregnant and not moving to the best of her ability.
However, Goolagong Cawley repeated the feat on the same hallowed turf in 1980 with a three-year-old daughter in tow.
In so doing, she was the first mother to be crowned Wimbledon champion since before the outset of World War I. ‘Super girl’ had become ‘super mum.’
But for all the monikers, titles and accolades, “having fun” was the key motivation.
“I believe that’s what life is all about. I certainly had a lot of fun during my career playing tennis, doing the thing I wanted to do and to do it well.”
