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Exclusive: Virginia Wade, ‘I salute Andy Murray’

Virginia Wade says she harbors no hard feelings over being British tennis’ forgotten champion — and congratulated Andy Murray on his “well- deserved” win at Wimbledon. Murray was heralded as the first British player in 77 years to win Wimbledon after his triumph in England on Sunday. But Wade’s victory in the women’s singles in 1977 — the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Wimbledon tournament — was largely forgotten by large sections of the media and even Prime Minister David Cameron, who was criticized for forgetting Wade during the prime minister’s questions session earlier this week. But proving that tennis really is a gentlewoman’s sport, Wade — the only British woman to win titles at all four Grand Slam tournaments — told Page Six exclusively, “As for the repeated statement that Britain had not had a Wimbledon champion for 77 years, I know it’s not technically correct, but there is such hyperbole over the well-deserved win for Andy, and I really don’t want to try to get in on the act. I think he did fantastically well, and knowing how hard it is to get that win at Wimbledon for a Brit, I definitely salute and congratulate him. At least now the pressure is over, and maybe by next year there will be some normalcy back.”