Martina Hingis defeated Jana Novotná in the final, 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 to win the ladies' singles tennis title at the 1997 Wimbledon Championships.

At 16 years and 278 days old, Hingis was the youngest player to win a Wimbledon singles title since Lottie Dod in 1887.

Steffi Graf was the two-time reigning champion, but did not compete due to injury.

This marked the first Wimbledon appearance of future five-time champion Venus Williams.

Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.