Q&A: Virginia Wade

Former winners relive the moment they were named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Virginia Wade (1980)
Wimbledon 1977 tennis champion

Q. What are your memories of the night?

A. I remember it well - down to exactly what I was wearing.

Prince Michael presented the award which was a great thrill for me.

Q. Who were you up against?

A. Geoffrey Boycott came second, and Barry Sheene was third.

Q. How did you celebrate winning?

A. There was always a big party afterwards so I went to that.

Those parties were always fun - especially in the early days.

I think by the time I won the award, I was more of a serious professional so I probably didn't party to the same extent.

Q. What made your Wimbledon win so special?

A. The great thing about it was that it came towards the end of my career so it made everything I had ever done worthwhile.

Perhaps if I had had the same success 10 years earlier, it wouldn't have felt so fulfilling.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Wade has a degree in maths from Sussex University

I had come very close before so my memories of Wimbledon until 1977 were more of not succeeding.

The fact that it happened when it did meant it was like the crowning glory to my career.

I did reasonably well in the next couple of years, reaching number two in the world in '78 and winning the Wightman Cup, but nothing really compared to winning Wimbledon.

Virginia Wade was talking to BBC Sport's Caroline Cheese