Simone Mathieu

**Simone Mathieu**
Personal information
Date of birth	January 31, 1908
Country	France
Grand Slam singles championships (2)
French Championships	1938, 1939

Simone Mathieu (January 31, 1908 – January 7, 1980) was a female tennis player from France, born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine.

1 Career
2 Grand Slam singles finals
- 2.1 Wins (2)
- 2.2 Runner-ups (6)
3 Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Career

Mathieu is best remembered for winning the singles title at the French Championships in 1938 and 1939 and for reaching the final of that tournament an additional six times, in 1929, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, and 1937. In those finals, she lost three times to Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling, twice to Helen Wills Moody, and once to Margaret Scriven-Vivian.

Mathieu won 11 Grand Slam doubles championships: three women's doubles titles at Wimbledon (1933–34, 1937), six women's doubles titles at the French Championships (1933–34, 1936–39), and two mixed doubles titles at the French Championships (1937–38). She completed the rare triple at the French Championships in 1938, winning the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles titles.

Mathieu's 13 Grand Slam titles are second only to Suzanne Lenglen's 31 among French women.

According to Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Mathieu was ranked in the world top ten from 1929 through 1939 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of World No. 3 in those rankings in 1932.^[1]

During the Second World War, Mathieu was head of the Corps Féminin Français, the women branch of the Free French Forces, similar to the British Auxiliary Territorial Service^[2].

She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1938	French Championships	Nelly Adamson-Landry	6–0, 6–3
1939	French Championships (2)	Jadwiga Jędrzejowska	6–3, 8–6

Runner-ups (6)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1929	French Championships	Helen Wills Moody	6–3, 6–4
1932	French Championships	Helen Wills Moody	7–5, 6–1
1933	French Championships	Margaret Scriven-Vivian	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
1935	French Championships	Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling	6–2, 6–1
1936	French Championships	Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling	6–3, 6–4
1937	French Championships	Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling	6–2, 6–4

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940	1941 - 1944	1945	1946¹	Career SR
Australia	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	NH	NH	A	0 / 0
France	QF	QF	3R	A	F	QF	QF	F	F	SF	F	F	F	W	W	NH	R	A	A	2 / 14
Wimbledon	A	1R	2R	A	3R	SF	SF	SF	QF	SF	QF	SF	SF	QF	QF	NH	NH	NH	1R	0 / 14
United States	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	QF	1R	A	A	A	A	0 / 2
SR	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 0	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2	1 / 3	1 / 3	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 1	2 / 30

A = did not participate in the tournament.

NH = tournament not held.

R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.

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

¹In 1946, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.

References

^ Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 701–2. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
^ Hammerton, John (editor) (10 April 1941). "Free French 'A.T.S.'". The War Illustrated (London: William Berry) (Volume 4, issue no. 84): 384. http://www.thewarillustrated.info/84/free-french-ats.asp. Retrieved 2008-10-19.