Nell Hall Hopman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eleanor "Nell" Mary Hall Hopman (born March 19, 1909 in Sydney, Australia - died January 10, 1968 in Hawthorn, Australia) was one of the female tennis players that dominated Australian tennis from 1930 through the early 1960s. She was the first wife of Harry Hopman, the coach and captain of 22 Australian Davis Cup teams.

Hopman teamed with her husband to win four mixed doubles titles at the Australian Championships (1930, 1936, 1937, and 1939). They were mixed doubles finalists at Wimbledon in 1935, losing to Fred Perry and Dorothy Round Little 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Hopman was a singles finalist at the Australian Championships in 1939 and 1947. She partnered with Maureen Connolly Brinker to win the women's doubles title at the 1954 French Championships. She played in 58 Grand Slam singles events during her career, the last one a first round loss at the 1966 French Championships when she was 57 years old. She played in 27 of the 28 singles events that were held at the Australian Championships from 1930 through 1962, including 25 consecutive events from 1933 through 1962. Her last Grand Slam event was the women's doubles tournament at the 1966 U.S. Championships, where she and Mrs. Arklay Richards lost in the first round.

Hopman was instrumental in Tennis Australia's decision to invite the reigning Wimbledon champion, Louise Brough Clapp, and Doris Hart to play tournaments in Australia in the summer of 1949-1950. She also arranged for Connolly Brinker and the American junior title holder Julie Sampson to play in Australia in the summer of 1952-1953. The end result was Tennis Australia's decision to establish a committee to discuss ways and means of improving the "poor standards of Australian women's tennis." Other tennis writers supported Hopman's efforts, accusing Tennis Australia of a "parochial attitude to women players." In 1955, Tennis Australia finally sent a women's team abroad, under the management of Adrian Quist. In 1961, Hopman took another women's team abroad, consisting of Margaret Smith Court, Lesley Turner Bowrey, and Mary Carter Reitano. Although the tour was a financial success, Hopman was accused of overworking and underfeeding her players and forcing them to stay in inadequate hotels. As a result, Court refused to participate in the 1962 overseas tour led by Hopman.

Hopman was employed by the United States Tennis Association and the Southern California Tennis Association from 1952 through 1954 to be the traveling companion and chaperon of Connolly Brinker.

Hopman persuaded the International Tennis Federation in 1962 to begin sponsoring the Fed Cup, an international team event for women that is similar to the Davis Cup for men.

Hopman became the first life member of Tennis Victoria in 1965.

Hopman underwent unsuccessful surgery for a brain tumor in 1966 and died from that disease in early 1968.

[edit] Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940	1941 through 1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963 through 1965	1966	Career SR
Australian Championships	1R	1R	A	QF	QF	SF	QF	2R	SF	F	SF	NH	NH	QF	F	QF	2R	QF	QF	2R	2R	QF	QF	2R	2R	1R	2R	1R	2R	2R	A	A	0 / 27
French Championships	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	A	A	3R	A	NH	R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	A	A	1R	A	1R	2R	A	1R	0 / 12
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	3R	2R	A	A	1R	A	NH	NH	NH	A	4R	A	A	A	A	3R	3R	1R	2R	2R	A	A	2R	A	1R	A	A	A	0 / 11
U.S. Championships	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	A	A	A	2R	2R	2R	1R	A	A	2R	A	A	2R	A	A	0 / 8
SR	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 58