Françoise Durr

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Françoise Durr (born December 25, 1942, in Algiers, Algeria) is a former tennis player from France. She won 26 singles titles and 60 doubles titles. She was ranked World No. 3 in 1967 and was nine times ranked in the world's top ten from 1965 through 1976. She finished second to Billie Jean King in annual prize money won in 1971.

Contents

[edit] Grand Slam tournaments

Durr is best remembered for winning the singles title at the 1967 French Championships. She defeated Maria Bueno in a quarterfinal before defeating Lesley Turner Bowrey in the final. Mary Pierce in 2000 is the only French woman to have won the women's singles title at the French Championships since Durr.

In addition to her singles championship, Durr won seven Grand Slam women's doubles titles and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She was the runner-up in eleven Grand Slam women's doubles events and four Grand Slam mixed doubles events.

Durr won eight doubles titles at the French Championships during her career. The first of Durr's record-tying five consecutive women's doubles titles was in 1967. (The record is shared with Martina Navratilova and Gigi Fernandez, with separate partners.) Durr teamed with Ann Haydon Jones to win the titles in 1968 and 1969 and with Gail Sherriff Chanfreau in 1967, 1970, and 1971. Durr was the runner-up in women's doubles in 1965 with Jeanine Lieffrig, in 1973 with Betty Stove, and in 1979 with Virginia Wade. Durr teamed with Jean Claude Barclay to win the mixed doubles title in 1968, 1971, and 1973. They were runner-ups in 1969, 1970, and 1972.

Durr won two doubles titles at the U.S. Open during her career. She won the women's doubles title in 1969 with Darlene Hard and in 1972 with Stove. Durr was the runner-up in that event in 1971 with Chanfreau and in 1974 with Stove. Durr was the runner-up in mixed doubles in 1969, teaming with Dennis Ralston.

Durr won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 1976 with Tony Roche. Durr was the runner-up in women's doubles at Wimbledon in 1965 with Lieffrig, 1968 with Jones, 1970 with Wade, 1972 with Judy Tegart Dalton, and 1973 and 1975 with Stove.

[edit] Grand Slam singles finals

[edit] Win (1)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1967 French Championships Flag of Australia Lesley Turner Bowrey 4–6, 6–3, 6–4

[edit] Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 Career SR
Australia A A A A A QF A QF A 2R A A A A A A A A / A A A 0 / 3
France 3R 3R 4R 4R 2R QF QF W 4R 3R 3R QF SF SF A A A A A 1R 1 / 15
Wimbledon A A A 2R 2R 4R QF 3R QF 2R SF QF QF 4R 3R 2R 4R 3R 3R 2R 0 / 17
United States A A 3R A 3R QF QF SF 3R 3R QF 3R 3R 1R 2R 2R 4R 1R A 1R 0 / 16
SR 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 3 1 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 3 1 / 51

A = did not participate in the tournament.

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

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

[edit] Other tournaments and team competitions

Durr defeated the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–4, 6–2 to win the 1971 Canadian Open.

Durr was an integral member of France's Fed Cup team in 1963-1967, 1970, 1972, and 1977-1979. Her career win-loss record was 16-8 in singles and 15-9 in doubles.

[edit] Trivia

  • Durr played with unorthodox grips and strokes.
  • Durr was the first woman to travel the tennis circuit with her dog, named Topspin, who became a star by carrying Durr's racquet onto court.

[edit] Career and awards after retiring from the tour

In 1993, Durr was appointed the first Technical Director of Women's Tennis for the French Tennis Federation (FFT). She was the captain of the French Fed Cup team from 1993 through 1996 and the co-captain of the team with Yannick Noah in 1997 when they won the competition. She retired from the FFT in February 2002[1].

Durr received the WTA Tour's Honorary Membership Award in 1988 for her contributions to the founding, development, and direction of women's professional tennis. In 2003, Durr was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She received the Fed Cup Award of Excellence in 2005, presented jointly by the International Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Françoise Dürr's retirement from the FFT archives (French). Fédération Française de Tennis. Retrieved on 2007-02-03.

[edit] External links