Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympic medal record
Women's Tennis
Gold	1924 Paris	Doubles
Gold	1924 Paris	Mixed doubles

Medal record
Triple Crown,1909, 1910, 1911
USTA Service Bowl,1940, 1946
U.S. Singles Champion,1909-1911, 1919
U.S. Doubles Champion,1909-1911, 1915, 1924, 1928
U.S. Mixed Doubles Champion,1909-1911, 1915, 1918, 1920
U.S. Indoor Champion, 1919, 1927
U.S. Indoor Doubles Champion, 1919, 1921, 1927-1931, 1933, 1943
U.S. Indoor Mixed Doubles Champion, 1923, 1924, 1926-1928
U.S. Grass Court Champion in Womens 40 Doubles, 1940-1942, 1944, 1946-1950, 1952, 1954

Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman (December 20, 1886 - December 5, 1974) was an American tennis player. She was born in Healdsburg, California. She was married to George Wightman of Boston in 1912 She died in Newton, Massachusetts

American tennis player who dominated women's competition before World War I, known as the “queen mother of American tennis,” Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman was instrumental in organizing the Wightman Cup match between British and American women's teams first held in 1923, continued until 1989. She served as captain of the U.S. team from its inception until 1948. Hazel Hotchkiss overpowered her opponents with winning nine national tennis titles in the years 1909–11 alone. She won a lifetime total of 45 U.S. titles, including 16 national titles and 4 Women's championships (1909-11,19) the last at age 68.
The Wightman Cup trophy was awarded to the winner of women's tennis matches held annually from 1923 to 1989. A competition comprised five singles and two doubles matches. The cup itself was donated in 1923 by Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman in honor of her husband. The first contest, at Forest Hills, N.Y., on Aug. 11 and 13, 1923, was won by the United States.
Hazel was among the most influential figures in tennis, as well as the most beloved. "Mrs. Wightie' is celebrated for her lifelong work promoting women's tennis, embodied in the the ladies International Tennis Challenge - better known as the Wightman Cup. Born in the early days of American tennis, she was a frail and awkward child. Her doctor recommended that she take up a sport to strengthen herself. Her brother suggested tennis as it was considered a 'genteel' sport. Wightman learned to play at the nearby courts of the University of California at Berkelely where she graduated in 1911. Her rivalry with fellow Californian, May Sutton, shaped a new women's game, with Wightman attacking the net to counter Sutton's dominating forehand. In her 60-year playing career, Wightman earned an unparalleled reputation for sportsmanship.
Wightman's battle for international competition in women's tennis resulted in the Wightman Cup challenge first played in 1923. Wightman served five years as a team member and 13 years as Captain. The mother of five children, she also devoted herself to teaching other young people, opening her home near Boston's Longwood Cricket Club to aspiring champions. In recognition of Wightman's contributions to tennis, the USTA Service Bowl was donated in her honor. In 1973 Queen Elizabeth II named Wightman an honorary Commander of the British Empire.

Career Highlights
17 Grand Slam titles (4 Singles, 7 Doubles, 6 Mixed Doubles)
Pioneered international competition in women's tennis with the Wightman Cup challenge between U.S. and Great Britain
Three U.S. Triple Crowns 1909, 1910, 1911
U.S. Singles Champion 1909-1911, 1919
U.S. Doubles Champion 1909-1911, 1915, 1924, 1928
U.S. Mixed Doubles Champion 1909-1911, 1915, 1918, 1920
Wimbledon Doubles Champion 1924
Olympic Gold Medalist in Doubles and Mixed Doubles 1924
U.S. Indoor Champion 1919, 1927
U.S. Indoor Doubles Champion 1919, 1921, 1927-1931, 1933, 1943
U.S. Indoor Mixed Doubles Champion 1923, 1924, 1926-1928
U.S. Grass Court Champion in Womens 40 Doubles 1940-1942, 1944, 1946-1950, 1952, 1954
U.S. Wightman Cup Team Member 19232, 1924, 1927, 1929, 1931
U.S. Wightman Cup Team Captain 1923, 1924, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937-1939, 1946-1948
Winner of USTA Service Bowl, donated in Wightman's honor - 1940, 1946
Author, Better Tennis Coached women champions including Sarah Palfrey, Helen Wills, and Helen Jacobs Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame 1957 Named Honorary Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973 Inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame 1986

http://www.tennisfame.com/famer.aspx?pgID=867&hof_id=152

Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss Wightman "Lady Tennis" Hometown:
Healdsburg, California, United States Citizenship: United States Handed: Right Inducted: 1957

Grand Slam Record
U.S. Singles 1909-11, 1919
Singles finalist 1915
Doubles 1909-11, 15, 24, 28
Doubles finalist 1919, 23
Mixed 1909-11, 15, 18, 20
Mixed finalist 1926
Wimbledon Doubles 1924
Tournament Record
Olympics Gold Medal Doubles 1924
Olympics Gold Medal Mixed 1938-39, 1924

"Lady Tennis," as she came to be known remembered herself as a shy, somewhat awed and fascinated college girl when she arrived at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in 1909 for the U.S. Championships. A Californian, Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss hadn't played on grass, but with her attacking style and rock-ribbed volleying--she was the first woman to rely so heavily on the volley--22-year-old Hazel, a right-hander, scythed through the field to lift the title effortlessly (6-0, 6-1) from a 39-year-old Maud Barger Wallach in the challenge round.
She lost only one set, in the all-comers final over Louise Hammond, 6-8, 6-1, 6-4. That triple was the start of the first of three U.S. triples (singles, doubles, mixed titles for three straight years) registered by American women. Hazel repeated in 1910 and 1911, and was emulated by Mary K. Browne (1912, 1913, 1914) and Alice Marble (1938, 1939, 1940). Hazel had no trouble with Hammond in the 1910 challenge round, but an old West Coast rival, May Sutton--champion in 1904--pushed her hard in 1911, 8-10, 6-4, 9-7.
Marrying Bostonian George Wightman 1912, she didn't defend. But, responding to a challenge from her father--to win after becoming a mother, a U.S. first--she reappeared in 1915 to lose the singles final to Molla Mallory, and win the doubles and mixed. But papa's wish came true for the spunky 125-pound 5-footer in another comeback, 1919. At 32, she won her fourth singles title. She lost only one set, beating Marion Zinderstein, 6-1, 6-2, in the final, and reaching the doubles final. Thereafter her long-lived and unapproached success (U.S. adult titles between 1909 and 1943) was confined to doubles, at which she was one of the supremes.
Hazel, devoted to the game in all aspects, generously instructed innumerable players, at no charge, throughout her life, and was able to win important titles with two of protégés who would join her in the Hall of Fame: Wimbledon, U.S. and Olympic doubles with Helen Wills in 1924; U.S. Indoor doubles with Sarah Palfrey 1928 through 1931.Her second Olympic gold in 1924 came in mixed with Dick Williams.
She envisioned a team tournament for women similar to the Davis Cup, and offered a silver vase as prize. In 1923 British women were strongest apart from Americans, and Julian Myrick of the USTA decided that a U.S.-Britain competition would be in order for the Wightman Cup. The event with Hazel captaining and playing for a winning U.S. side, opened the newly constructed stadium at Forest Hills. A treasured series, it lasted through 1989, disbanded unfortunately with the Brits no longer able to offer competition.
The last of Hazel's record 34 U.S. adult titles was recorded in 1943 as she, 56, and Pauline Betz, 24 won the doubles over Lillian Lopaus and Judy Atterbury, 7-5, 6-1. Though short, she anticipated and moved extremely well though undemonstrably. She perfected her volleying early, hitting the ball against the family home in Berkeley, where she grew up and graduated from the University of California. She refused to let the ball bounce because the yard was so uneven. She used to play against her four brothers and then the proud and spiky Sutton sisters.
As the Bostonian Mrs. Wightman, she was in the U.S. Top Ten in 1915, 1918 and 1919, No. 1 the last. She was born December 20, 1886, in Healdsburg, CA, and died December 5, 1974, in Chestnut Hill, MA. She entered the Hall of Fame in 1956. First Lady of Tennis is a short biography of Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, the donor of the Wightman cup for international tennis play and the first honoree in the University of California women’s athlete hall of fame. She won innumerable national championships in tennis, and took two gold medals in the 1924 Olympics. This book traces Hazel’s career and her honors, but it also details Hazel’s lifelong dedication to teaching the game. She profoundly influenced leading players on both coasts, teaching, housing, and feeding them, leading to her nickname "Queen Mother of Tennis."

[edit] Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1909	1910	1911	1912 - 1914	1915	1916 - 1918	1919	1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	Career SR
Australian Championships	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0
French Championships1	R	R	R	A	NH	NH	NH	A	A	A	A	NH	A	A	A	A	0 / 0
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	NH	NH	A	A	A	A	A	3R	A	A	A	A	0 / 1
U.S. Championships	W	W	W	A	F	A	W	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	1R	QF	4 / 8
SR	1 / 1	1 / 1	1 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 0	1 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	4 / 9

NH = tournament not held.

R = tournament restricted to French nationals.

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

¹Through 1923, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. The World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussells, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from that tournament are shown here from 1912 through 1914 and from 1920 through 1923. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.