Christine Truman

Christine Truman

Full name	Christine Clara Truman Janes
ITF name	Christine Janes
Country (sports)	United Kingdom
Born	(1941-01-16) 16 January 1941 Woodford Green, England
Plays	Right-handed
Singles
Highest ranking	No. 2 (1959)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	SF (1960)
French Open	W (1959)
Wimbledon	F (1961)
US Open	F (1959)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1960)
French Open	SF (1959)
Wimbledon	F (1959)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	SF (1960)
French Open	SF (1967)
Wimbledon	QF (1959)
US Open	SF (1958)
Team competitions
Wightman Cup	W (1958,1960,1968)

Christine Truman Janes MBE (born 16 January 1941) is a female former tennis player from the United Kingdom who was active from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. She won a singles Grand Slam title at the French Championships in 1959 and was a finalist at Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships. She helped Great Britain win the Wightman Cup in 1958, 1960 and 1968.

Career

The British junior champion in 1956 and 1957, Truman made her Wimbledon debut in 1957 at age 16 and reached the semifinals, where she lost to Althea Gibson.^[1]

In 1958, she caused a sensation by defeating Gibson, the Wimbledon champion, in the Wightman Cup and helped bring the cup back to Great Britain after 21 consecutive defeats by the United States.^[2] A few weeks later at Wimbledon, however, as the second seed she was defeated in the fourth round by the American Mimi Arnold. That loss helped start her reputation as an unpredictable player.

In 1959, she became the youngest women's singles champion at the French Championships at the age of 18.^{[lower-alpha 1]} That year, by far her best, also saw her as the winner of the Italian Championships and runner-up at the U.S. Championships.^[2] She failed, however, to justify her top seeding at Wimbledon where she lost in the fourth round to the Mexican Yola Ramírez Ochoa.^[3] In doubles at Wimbledon, Truman partnered Beverly Baker Fleitz to reach the women's doubles final and with her brother Humphrey to reach the mixed doubles quarterfinals.

In 1960, she was the third seed at Wimbledon, where she lost in a semifinal to Maria Bueno in three sets. She teamed with Bueno to win the women's doubles title at the Australian Championships that year.

In 1961, she was the sixth seed at Wimbledon and defeated the second seed, Margaret Court, 3–6, 6–3, 9–7 in a quarterfinal after trailing 4–1 in the final set and saving two match points. She then beat Renee Schuurman Haygarth of South Africa in a semifinal 6–4, 6–4 before losing to fellow Briton Angela Mortimer in the final.^[4] During this match, Truman suffered a heavy fall which it is generally considered by tennis aficionados probably cost her the match.

In July 1962 it was revealed that Truman is partially blind in her left eye.^[5]

Truman had another comparatively successful Wimbledon run in 1965, when unseeded, she defeated the 6th seeded Carole Caldwell Graebner in the second round; up and coming players Judy Tegart and Julie Heldman in the third and fourth round respectively; and the 4th seeded Nancy Richey in the quarter final round. Her run to the semi final held some irony as it was the first time in Wimbledon history that no British player had been seeded in the Ladies Singles championship. She was defeated by no.2 seed (and eventual champion) Margaret Smith in their semi-final 6-4 6-0, avenging the defeat Truman had infliced on Smith in a 1961 quarter final clash.^[6]

In April 1968 she and her sister Nell Truman became the first winners of an open tennis event by winning the women's doubles title at the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth.^[1]

According to Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Janes was ranked in the world top ten from 1957 through 1961 and in 1965, reaching a career high of World No. 2 in those rankings in 1959.^[7] She played Wightman Cup from 1957 through 1971 (winning the cup in 1958, 1960, and 1968). She also played Federation Cup in 1963, 1965, and 1968, posting a 6–3 singles record and a 2–2 doubles record.

On 1 December 1967 she married former Wasps player Gerry Janes and they have four children.^[8] She retired from tennis in 1975 and became a commentator for BBC Radio the same year. In the 2001 Queen's Birthday's Honours list, she was awarded an MBE for her "services to sport". Since 2011 she has published several children's books.^[9]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
Winner	1959	French Championships	Zsuzsi Körmöczy	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	1959	U.S. Championships	Maria Bueno	1–6, 4–6
Runner-up	1961	Wimbledon	Angela Mortimer Barrett	6–4, 4–6, 5–7

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1959	Wimbledon	Beverly Baker	Jeanne Arth Darlene Hard	6–2, 2–6, 3–6
Winner	1960	Australian Championships	Maria Bueno	Lorraine Coghlan Robinson Margaret Smith	6–2, 5–7, 6–2

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

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.

See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

Notes

References

External links

• Christine Truman-Janes at the Women's Tennis Association
• Christine Truman at the International Tennis Federation
• Christine Truman at the Fed Cup