British tennis player. Wimbledon singles champion 1934 and 1937, Australian open champion 1935
Born on 13 July, 1909, at 25 Grange Road, Dudley. Dorothy Round was the youngest of four children to builder John Round and Maude Helena.
She attended Dudley Girls High School, and started to take tennis seriously from the age of 12, with her three brothers helping her develop a hard-hitting style.
She entered her first junior tennis tournament when she was 16 and won Worcestershire county colours in 1927.
A year later, at the age of 18, she made her Wimbledon debut, losing a closely fought first round match.
Dorothy entered her first Wimbledon Championships in 1928 after coming through the qualifying event. She was knocked out in the first round. The following year she suffered from nerves and was defeated in the second round. She was billed as a 'rising player' in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic news
At the 1931 Wimbledon Championships she reached the quarter final and was rewarded with a spot on the British team for the Wightman Cup, the annual women's team tennis competition between Great Britain and the United States. She lost her singles match in three sets after failing to convert any of her seven match points.
She declined to compete in the French Championships in 1933, as because of her religious convictions, she did not want to play on a Sunday.
In the 1933 Wimbledon Championships, she was seeded no. 2. She lost in the final to Wills Moody, five-time Wimbledon Singles title holder.
In 1934, Round won Wimbledon singles. She also won the mixed doubles competition, partnered with Japanese player, Ryuki Miki.
In 1936, Round partnered with Fred Perry, and they won the mixed doubles.
In 1937, Round won her second Wimbledon singles title.
Dorothy Round's Methodist beliefs were important. She continued to teach at a Methodist Sunday School in Dudley even at the height of her fame.
On 2 September 1937 she married Dr Douglas Leigh Little, at the Wesley Methodist Church, Dudley. The bridesmaid was the tennis player Mary Heeley
They had a son, Ian, in July 1938. She went to Canada in 1940, returning to the UK in 1944. They had a daughter, Patricia, in 1946.
On 4th April, 1958, Douglas died at their home in St James Road, Dudley.
Dorothy died on 12th November, 1982 at the age of 74.
Dorothy was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1986.
In 2013, a bronze statue was erected in Priory Park, Dudley. It was unveiled by her daughter and depicts Dorothy making a return play of the ball.