Doris Hart

Doris Hart

Doris Hart in 1953
Country  United States
Born June 20, 1925
St. Louis, Missouri
Retired 1955 (but played at the 1969 US Open)
Int. Tennis HOF 1969 (member page)
Singles
Highest ranking No. 1 (1951)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open W (1949)
French Open W (1950, 1952)
Wimbledon W (1951)
US Open W (1954, 1955)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open W (1950)
French Open W (1948, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953)
Wimbledon W (1947, 1951, 1952, 1953)
US Open W (1951, 1952, 1953, 1954)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open W (1949, 1950)
French Open W (1951, 1952, 1953)
Wimbledon W (1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955)
US Open W (1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955)
Last updated on: September 27, 2010.

Doris Hart (born on June 20, 1925) is a former World No. 1 American tennis player.

As a child, she suffered from osteomyelitis, which resulted in a permanently impaired right leg. She started playing tennis when she was 10 years old, greatly encouraged by her brother Bud.

Hart's first Grand Slam title was in women's doubles at Wimbledon in 1947, when she was still a student at the University of Miami (Florida).

Hart's first Grand Slam singles title came at the 1949 Australian Championships. She also won singles titles at the French Championships in 1950 and 1952, Wimbledon in 1951, and the U.S. Championships in 1954 and 1955. In 1951, she beat her long-time doubles partner, Shirley Fry Irvin, in the Wimbledon final. In 1954, she saved a match point while defeating Louise Brough Clapp in the final of the U.S. Championships. Hart is the second woman in history to complete a career Grand Slam in singles (1954) after Maureen Connolly (1953), and is the first to complete the career boxed set.

Hart reached at least the quarterfinals in 32 of the 34 Grand Slam singles tournaments she played, failing to reach that round only in her first two tournaments (when she was 15 and 16 years old). She won 6 of the 18 Grand Slam singles finals she contested. She was the champion of the last Grand Slam singles tournament she played, the 1955 U.S. Championships. Her last Grand Slam doubles tournament was the 1969 US Open, where she and partner Carole Graebner lost in the first round.

In 1951, Hart won the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles championships at Wimbledon, playing the finals of all three events on the same day. She also won the "triple crown" at the French Championships in 1952 and the U.S. Championships in 1954.

During her Wightman Cup career from 1946 through 1955, Hart was a perfect 14–0 in singles matches and 8–1 in doubles matches.

Hart is one of only two women to have defeated Maureen Connolly in a Grand Slam singles tournament. Hart won their second round match at the 1950 U.S. Championships 6–2, 7–5. (The other woman was Barbara Scofield Davidson, who defeated Connolly in the second round of the 1949 U.S. Championships, 6–4, 6–3.) Connolly won a total of nine Grand Slam singles tournaments during her career, defeating Hart in the final of four of them.

Hart won 35 Grand Slam titles during her career, tying with Brough Clapp for fifth on the all-time list. Six of her titles were in women's singles, 14 in women's doubles, and 15 in mixed doubles. Hart is one of three players, all women, to have a "boxed set" of Grand Slam titles—every possible title (singles, same-sex doubles, and mixed doubles) from all four Grand Slam events. The others are Margaret Court and Martina Navratilova. Hart won nine consecutive Grand Slam women's doubles titles from 1951 through 1953, with her streak of 43 consecutive match wins in Grand Slam women's doubles tournaments finally ending in the 1954 Wimbledon final.

According to John Olliff and Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Hart was ranked in the world top ten from 1946 through 1955 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of World No. 1 in those rankings in 1951.[1] Hart was included in the year-end top ten rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association from 1942 through 1955. She was the top ranked U.S. player in 1954 and 1955.[2]

Hart retired from the tour in 1955 to become a tennis teaching professional. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1969.

Grand Slam record

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (6)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1949 Australian Championships Nancye Wynne Bolton 6–3, 6–4
1950 French Championships Pat Canning Todd 6–4, 4–6, 6–2
1951 Wimbledon Shirley Fry Irvin 6–1, 6–0
1952 French Championships (2) Shirley Fry Irvin 6–4, 6–4
1954 U.S. Championships Louise Brough Clapp 6–8, 6–1, 8–6
1955 U.S. Championships (2) Patricia Ward 6–4, 6–2

Runner-ups (12)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1946 U.S. Championships Pauline Betz Addie 11–9, 6–3
1947 French Championships Pat Canning Todd 6–3, 3–6, 6–4
1947 Wimbledon Margaret Osborne duPont 6–2, 6–4
1948 Wimbledon Louise Brough Clapp 6–3, 8–6
1949 U.S. Championships Margaret Osborne duPont 6–3, 6–1
1950 Australian Championships Louise Brough Clapp 6–4, 3–6, 6–4
1950 U.S. Championships Margaret Osborne duPont 6–4, 6–3
1951 French Championships Shirley Fry Irvin 6–3, 3–6, 6–3
1952 U.S. Championships Maureen Connolly Brinker 6–3, 7–5
1953 French Championships Maureen Connolly Brinker 6–2, 6–4
1953 Wimbledon Maureen Connolly Brinker 8–6, 7–5
1953 U.S. Championships Maureen Connolly Brinker 6–2, 6–4

Grand Slam tournament timelines

Singles

Tournament 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 19461 19471 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 Career SR
Australian Championships A NH NH NH NH NH A A A W F A A A A A 1 / 2
French Championships NH R R R R A QF F SF A W F W F A A 2 / 7
Wimbledon NH NH NH NH NH NH QF F F A SF W QF F SF SF 1 / 9
U.S. Championships 2R 1R QF SF QF SF F SF QF F F SF F F W W 2 / 16
SR 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 3 1 / 2 1 / 4 1 / 3 1 / 3 0 / 3 1 / 2 1 / 2 6 / 34

NH = tournament not held.
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.
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.
1In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.

Women's doubles

Tournament 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 19461 19471 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956–1968 1969 Career SR
Australian Championships A A NH NH NH NH NH A A F W A A A A A A A 1 / 2
French Championships NH R R R R A F F W A W W W W A A A A 5 / 7
Wimbledon NH NH NH NH NH NH F W F A F W W W F SF A A 4 / 9
U.S. Championships A A F F F F SF F F F F W W W W F A 1R 4 / 15
SR 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 3 1 / 3 1 / 3 0 / 2 2 / 4 3 / 3 3 / 3 3 / 3 1 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 1 14 / 33

NH = tournament not held.
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.
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.
1In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.

Mixed doubles

Tournament 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 19461 19471 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956–1968 1969 Career SR
Australian Championships A A NH NH NH NH NH A A W W A A A A A A A 2 / 2
French Championships NH R R R R A ? ? F A ? W W W A A A A 3 / ?
Wimbledon NH NH NH NH NH NH 4R SF F A SF W W W W W A A 5 / 9
U.S. Championships ? ? ? 1R QF F QF 1R SF QF F W W W W W A QF 5 / ?
SR 0 / ? 0 / ? 0 / ? 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / ? 1 / ? 0 / ? 1 / 2 1 / ? 3 / 3 3 / 3 3 / 3 2 / 2 2 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 1 15 / ?

NH = tournament not held.
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.
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.
1In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 702–3. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
  2. ↑ United States Tennis Association (1988). 1988 Official USTA Tennis Yearbook. Lynn, Massachusetts: H.O. Zimman, Inc. pp. 260–1.

External links

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