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Biographies of Female Tennis Players

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#1 · (Edited)
This thread will feature biographies of women who played tennis at a world class level. Note that the women will be added as we find information, so they will not appear in alphabetical order.

To find women listed in alphabetical order please go to the Blast Encyclopedia of Female Tennis Players at http://www.tennisforum.com/showthread.php?t=497938

The Blast Encyclopedia of Female Tennis Players lists women by both their maiden and married names. Under the main listing for a player a link will be provided back to this thread to a biography.
 
#1,457 · (Edited by Moderator)
PALMER, “VICKI” (Victoria Palmer)
United States
Born 1945 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Married Nye Heinicke on 16 May 1964 in Clark County, Nevada
Nickname: "The Grunter"
[Active 1958-1964]

Though the papers referred to her as Vicki, Heinicke says she's always preferred Victoria. She was labeled the first grunter on tour by Ted Tinling and Bud Collins. "The top players grunted occasionally, but I was the only one who did it consistently," she says. Heinicke learned tennis from her father in Arizona, starting at four-and-a-half. For as long as she can remember, she grunted when she hit the ball. Despite this there was never any controversy around the issue
"Most of the players at that time—men and women both—grunted, but not all the time," she said. "The difference between them and me was that I grunted on every stroke." -Vicki on her habit of grunting-rare in the 1960s but commonplace today.
She arrived on tour at age 14, winning the 1959 Phoenix Thunderbird defeating Karen Hantze and Barbara Green. That same year Victoria became the youngest competitor to play the US Championships at Forest Hills. She reached the third round of the 1960 US Nationals where she lost to #6 Jan Lehane.

In the summer of 1961, she reached the quarters or better at Merion, Philadelphia and S. Orange, the east coast grass events and she made the round of 16 at the 1962 Wimbledon with a win over Robyn Ebbern. Palmer's greatest run was a semifinal finish at the 1962 US Nationals. She advanced over Moffit while down a set and up 5-0 when Billie Jean retired. She beat Wimbledon champ and #2 seed Susman in the third round and fell to Darlene Hard in the semis.

In the 1963 Thunderbird, she again defeated Susman before falling to Nancy Richey in the finals. She fell to Richey in three more finals that year, including the US Clay Court tournament where she defeated Moffitt.

She enrolled at the University of Arizona, which didn't have a women's tennis team, so she practiced with the men. Finding herself pregnamet, she eloped at age 18 and had her first child at age 19. After that she only played a few tournaments, and her career was over before age 20.

Palmer was a hard hitting baseliner-a style conducive to the cement courts she grew up on.

Ranked #7 in the United states in 1962.








Sources:

https://www.tennisforum.com/59-blas...s-first-grunter-notes-evolution-grunting.html

A slate article on Palmer:
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports...l_history.html

2012 Colorado Hall of Fame:
Home Page | Colorado District


www.ancestry.co.uk (for marriage)


[Thanks to Preacherfan for this biography]
 
#1,458 · (Edited)
PAMPOULOVA, ELENA
Bulgaria/Germany
Born 17 May 1972 is Sofia, Bulgaria
Died 19 April 2023
Married (1) Axel Wagner, June 1991
Married (2) Christian Bergomi, 11 July 2006
Active 1988-2001

Name in Bulgarian is Елена Пампулова

Elena's first tennis coach was her own mother, Bulgarian tennis player Lubka Radkova. Elena's father, Emilian Pampoulov, is also a tennis player. Elena played as "Wagner" after her marriage, though she still represented Bulgaria until 1996. From 1997 to her retirement she played for Germany. Elena is one of the rare players to represent two nations in Fed Cup.

In 1994 she won her only tour level event at Surabaya, Indonesia. It was a Tier IV event. Throughout the mid to late 1990's she was a slid if unspectacular member of the top 100.

In 2006, Elena Pampoulova married her long-time boy-friend, Swiss banker Christian Bergomi. The couple currently lives in Switzerland, where Elena is an investment banker. Their son Alex was born in early 2008.

Career Stats

Singles: 243-170 -------Highest rank was #62 on 09 September 1996.
Doubles: 163-146-------highest rank was #38 on 23 September 1996.

Won 1 WTA title and 12 ITS titles (including 3 ITF titles in 1996)
Won 3 WTA doubles and 8 ITF doubles.

Best slam result was 3R at US open in 1997 and 3R Wimbledon in 1999.



Her 2nd marriage in 2006




Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Wagner
wta site.
A Bulgarain link detailing her 2nd marriage.

[Bio provided by Rollo; additional info by Rosamund]
 
#1,460 · (Edited by Moderator)
PARADIS, PASCALE
France
Born 24 April 1966
Married Xavier Mangon, 27 April 1991
Active in the 1980s

Played as Paradis-Mangon after marriage

A French player who came to the women's tour with great expectations, Pascale Paradis had reached the final of all four junior Grand Slam events, winning the French and Wimbledon titles. In her first US Open (1983), she upset Dianne Balestrat and #9 Andrea Temesvari to reach the round of 16.

She had an all-court game with a one-handed backhand that she could slice or come over. Her career spanned a decade and she reached #28 in 1984 and #20 in 1988 (her highest singles ranking). Her career best Slam result was a QF run at the 1988 Wimbledon which included a win over #6 ranked Manuela Maleeva. Though her career was solid, she never quite fulfilled the promise that she had shown in her junior career.

Titles

1983-Kitzbuhel



[Thanks to Preacherfan for this biography and Binoxial for the picture)
 
#1,462 · (Edited by Moderator)
PARKER, "MARGOT" (Margaret E. Parker)
Great Britian
Born 27 March 1913
Died 19 January 2004 in West surrey
[Active at least 1939-1950]

Margot make well have been a shortened form of Margaret . Margot Parker came from Guildford.

On www.ancestry.co.uk one can find Margaret E. Parker born 27th March 1913 at Guildford who died in West Surrey 19th January 2004.Exact date from probate records. I think it must be the same person.

Wimbledon record (1939 and then from 1946 to 1957)

Singles: 4-10
Doubles: 5-11

Sources:

International Who's Who of Tennis 1983 (provides date of birth)

www.ancestry.co.u

[Thanks to Rosamund for this information]
 
#1,463 · (Edited by Moderator)
NOVOTNA, JANA
Czech Republic
Born 02 October 1968 in Czechoslovakia
Died 19 November 2017 in Brno, Czech Republic
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
[Active 1986-1999]

A stylish all court player, she was the world top tenner who consistently served and volleyed on faster surfaces indoors and on grass. Prone to nerves, she was more famous for choking matches for much of her career.

Rose as high as #2 in the world in 1997, when the won the WTA YEC. Jana finally achieved her goal of winning Wimbledon in 1998.

Winner of 12 Grand Slam Doubles titles and 4 mixed.

Singles

Career record 571–225 (72.11%)
Career titles 24 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking No. 2 (7 July 1997)

Doubles

Career record 697–153
Career titles 76 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking No. 1 (27 August 199

In early 2013 she became the coach of Marion Bartoli

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jana_Novotná


 
#1,465 · (Edited by Moderator)
PARMENTER, "PAT" (Fay Patricia Parmenter)
Australia
Born circa 1937.
Married Randall by 1965.
[Active 1957 and 1958]

Retired after the 1959 season. She was ranked #10 in Australia in 1957 and #9 in 1958.

Pat Parmenter was born c. 1937. Her daughter is Bernadette Randall who was born on 27th September 1965 in Sydney(per ITF website) and played singles at Australia Open 1979,1980 and 1983 and Wimbledon 1983 winning 1 match.

[Thanks to Rollo and Rosamund for this information]
 
#1,466 · (Edited by Moderator)
LOWTHER, “TOUPIE” (or “Toupee”) (May Lowther)
Great Britain
Born 15 April 1874 in London, England
Died 30 December 1944 in Pulborough, England
[Active 1896-1907]

Winner German Championships in 1901, winner British Covered Court Championships in 1900, 1902 and 1903. A semifinalist at Wimbledon in 1903 and 1906.

Strong, uninhibited about her gender and very mannish, many though she could have been leagues better if not for the bouts of nervousness she fell prey to at critical times.

One indicator of her ability came in 1907, when she lost to May Sutton 6-4 6-4 in the second round at the Championships. It was the most games Sutton lost to anyone that year at Wimbledon. According to Alan Little's book on Sutton she was behind 4-2 and 40-love in the second set. (Page 14) "At this stage May showed wonderful perseverance and self control in allowing Miss Lowther to make the mistakes."

George Hillyard, in Forty Years of First-Class Lawn Tennis, (London: Williams & Norgate, 1924) evidently thought very highly of her:

"The name I have omitted is that of Miss T. Lowther. Here is the extraordinary case of a player whose potentialities were greater than those of any other British lady who ever walked on to a court, but who, unfortunately, was saddled with a temperament which was so hopelessly unsuitable to lawn tennis that it reduced her play, at all events in public, not one, but at least two classes, below what her form should have been! She is the only lady I have ever seen, not even excepting Mile Lenglen, who really had a man's strokes and a man's strength. In fact, all her shots were made exactly like those of a first-class player of the opposite sex, and, omitting a few exceptional hard hitters, with just as much power behind them. Such sound judges of lawn tennis as Dr Eaves, the Dohertys, and G. C. Ball-Greene, considered Miss Lowther to be the finest stroke player of any lady; ... It is no flight of imagination to say that had Miss Lowther been blessed with the temperament of a Mrs Sterry or a Mrs Lambert Chambers, she might have been as fine a player as Mile Lenglen herself."

He also adds a contribution by Toupie herself, in which she recounts a match against Mrs Hillyard in Homburg:

"The shock to my nervous system was very severe when told I had to play Mrs Hillyard— Mrs Hillyard the innumerable times Champion ! So much so, that when I walked on to the court at the Homburg Tournament, and began the match, the balls seemed to have shrunk to the size of marbles, the net to have stretched in height like Alice in Wonderland, and my accuracy departed to such an extent that I wondered whether I had been born cross-eyed. Mrs Hillyard, whom I had not the pleasure of knowing at that time, on the contrary, seemed imbued with a demon-like agility, and placed that wretched little ball wherever she liked, and invariably where I was not, until, panting and distressed in body and mind, discouraged and despairing, I swore to myself (it seemed that swearing was the only faculty left me) that never would I play in a tournament again.

She won the first set with great ease ; and when we crossed over, after 6—I had been called against me in sepulchral tones by the most melancholy umpire I ever saw, she let fly at me with, ' Why on earth don't you try ? Of course, I cannot give you these odds (she was owing me ½ 30), if only you will play up. It is perfectly sickening playing someone who doesn't try. Don't be such a d———d fool! Stick to it, and you'll win.' The effect of this encouragement by a total stranger, and still more the somewhat drastic and peculiar method of giving it, was magical. I felt so ' bucked,'as the schoolboys say, that my nervousness left me entirely, and I won the match !"


Of Miss Robb, George Hillyard had the following to say, after calling her S. H. Smith of the fair sex (how extraordinary!) :

" She had the hardest drive of any lady player before or since. This stroke, however, was not made exactly in the same manner as that of the famous Stroud expert, as it had no perceptible top-spin. It more nearly resembled—indeed, very closely resembled A. W. Gore's horizontal sweep. A very tall and powerful girl, the pace she got on the ball was astonishing; indeed, few men have had a harder drive. Fortunately for her opponents, she was a player who decidedly had her days. 'When she was good, she was very, very good, etc.' This, of course, was almost bound to be the case with a ball hit so hard without 'top.' The accuracy required to keep it in court was too great for fallible human beings, except at the very zenith of their form. "



Sources:

Toupie Lowther: Her Life by Valerie Brown. 2017 (171 pages)

The Mysterious Toupie (Toupee) Lowther - TennisForum.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toupie_Lowther

She wrote a chapter for the Dohertys R.F. & H.L. Doherty on Lawn Tennis (London: Lawn Tennis Office, 1903). Pages 132-140:
http://www.archive.org/stream/rfhldo...e/132/mode/2up
 
#1,467 · (Edited by Moderator)
PARR. “MAISIE” (Magdalene Jessie Parr)
Australia (South Australia)
Born 01 May 1864
Died 08 May 1948 in Adelaide, South Australia
Other nickname: "May"
[Active: 1883-1911]

Six-time SA Champion (1892 to 1899), she was also a finalist in the Victorian Championships (1894).

Returning from England in 1881, where she learned to play tennis with her sister after watching games, she joined the Adelaide Tennis Club and won the club championship in 1883.

She won her first SA singles championship in 1892, aged 26, and her last in 1899, aged 33. She was runner-up in 1911, aged 45. She won her last doubles title, in 1907, at the age of 42. In 1931, at the age of 65, she played in the South Australian championships but restricted herself to handicap doubles.

In 1909, when she was well past her best, a critic wrote "Miss Parr is a fine example of strong, active women. Her play, though she is a veteran in years, is a marvel of vigor and dash; and though beaten by safer methods, her game is the most attractive to watch. Like Miss Payten, she goes for winning strokes but, unlike her, she misses many."

An Adelaide article from 1941 also sheds some light on this Australian tennispioneer:

From “The Adelaide News”, 21 May 1941:

Grand Old Woman of Tennis Miss Parr

“Miss Maisie Jessie Parr was watching the football at the Adelaide Oval last Saturday. Perhaps my friend will not mind my mentioning that it is 60 years since she first started playing tennis. When State Champion (she won the title in 1892, 1893, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1899), she was Australia’s outstanding woman exponent, being one of the first to show what a woman could do in smashing and volleying the hardest drives.

“For 50 years Miss Parr was a fine tennis player and probably today could play a sound doubles games. Miss Parr believes in training for sport, and when she was young used to run miles each day to ensure stamina.

“For many years Miss Lilian Payne, a cousin, held the State title, and during those years Miss Parr was runner-up. Those two between them held the State title for fourteen years.”

Miss Parr-circa 1895



Sources:

“Grand Old Woman of Tennis Miss Parr", The Adelaide News, 21 May 1941

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/131407488?


[Thanks to GeeTee for this biography. Newemark and Rollo have found aditional information]
 
#1,468 · (Edited by Moderator)
PARTRIDGE, “SUSAN” (Joan Susan Vernon Partridge)
United Kingdom/France
Born
Died 04 December 1999
Married (1) Philippe Chatrier-23 April 1953-divorced. Died 1999
Married (2) Jean-Roger Crosnier, 25 October 1973
Other names: Sometimes listed as “Sue”

Famous for her use of “stonewalling” tactics in nearly upsetting Maureen Connolly at Wimbledon in 1952. Her first husband, a fellow tennis player, was later President of the French Tennis Federation. Both Susan and Philippe suffered from and succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease.
 
#1,469 · (Edited by Moderator)
PATERSON, GRACE (Grace Barton Paterson)
Australia(NSW)
Born 11 February 1904 in Woollahra, Sydney
Died 28 June 1983 in Rose Bay, New South Wales
Married Lieutenant Kenneth D'Arcy Harvie on 13 December 1931 in Yaralla, Concord, New South Wales-daughter Rosamund
[Active in the 1920s]

Daughter of AB 'Banjo' Paterson who wrote Waltzing Matilda among other famous songs and poems.

From "The Mail", Adelaide, 19 December 1931 : "A POET'S daughter wed in a garden! It sounds so appropriate! The bride was Miss Grace Paterson, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. B.('Banjo') Paterson [Andrew Barton Paterson and Alice Emily Paterson (née Walker)], of Sydney, and the bridegroom was Lieutenant Kenneth D'Arcy Harvie, of H.M.A.S. Australia, so he is known to Adelaide folk, although he is a Victorian.

"Dame Edith Walkers' garden in Sydney was the scene of the wedding, and it was a poem in itself. An almost altar-like appearance was achieved by the pedestals complete with gilt baskets, which carried enormous sheaths of gladioli. Ferns were cleverly twisted so that they looked like rails along the path from the house to the trees, and green felt made a path. The initials of the bride and the groom were out lined in flowers over the door.

"Although the wedding was the simplest that could be imagined a lavish appearance was gained by gold braid and gilt buttons of officers of the navy who were present. Rugs were thrown on the lawns, on which the guests sat, fanning them selves with a dignified air, for mosquitoes and flies are no respecters of even gar den weddings!

"Dame Edith Walker and the bride's mother received the guests. And when they assembled inside the house for the reception it was almost as full of flowers as was the garden itself! Of course, 'Banjo' Paterson needs no introduction."

[Thanks to Gee Tee and Newmark for this information]
 
#1,471 · (Edited by Moderator)
PATORNI, JACQUELINE (nee Jacqueline Horner)
France
Born 15 May 1917 in Paris, France
Died 12 March 2002 at Neuilly-sur-Seine
Married Raphael Patorni on 12 April 1942
[Active at the French Chmps from 1939,1946-1955. Turned pro in 1956]

A prominent French junior who also participated in skiing at the national level. Both she and her spouse, film actor Raphael Patorni, become coaches at the Racing Club de France, and in Deauville. RU in French Chmps (1944). In 1954 she was French mixed RU with Rex Hartwig.

Jacqueline Horner Patorni and Mellerio
2nd pic: Jacqueline Horner Patorni, Dessair, Mellerio, Laval


 
#1,472 · (Edited by Moderator)
PAYNE, LILLIAN (Lillian Eleanor Payne)
Australia (South Australia)
Born 6 August 1875
Died 15 September 1944 in South Australia

A nine-time SA Champion (1895 to 1907), she was also runner-up in the Victorian Championships (1901) and winner of the Victorian mixed doubles title (1906).

Lillian was a cousin or niece of Maisie Parr, who had taught Payne the game.

[Thanks to GeeTee for this biography]
 
#1,474 · (Edited by Moderator)
PAYTEN, ROSE (“Babe”) (Rose Hannah Payten)
Australia (New South Wales)
Born 20 December 1879 in Campbelltown, Leumeah, NSW, Australia
Died 09 May, 1951 in Campbelltown, Leumeah, NSW, Australia
[Active 1898-1907]

NSW Champion 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1907
QLD Champion 1903, 1904, 1905, 1907
WA Champion 1906
Strathfield Open 1906

After retiring from tennis in 1909, she became a champion golfer. Judged by some who saw her to be the equal of any female tennis player who ever lived.

Her nickname came from being the youngest in a family of 6. With 5 older sports minded brothers she became an avid all around participant in sports as varied as cricket, golf, horse riding, and shooting. It is tennis, however, that made her famous.

Her first known event was the New South Wales championship in 1898. Rose lost in the semifinals. The next year she was a losing finalist. Payten won in 1900-rarely losing after that date. A newspaper described her with "a merry freckled face, boyishly eager, whose owner could run like a deer".

She was triple champion (singles, doubles, and mixed) of New South Wales 4 consecutive years from 1901 to 1904. There was no NSW event in 1905. She did not defend in 1906 due to being ill.

Rose won the triple at the New South Wales championships yet again in 1907. She announced her retirement from tennis, having gone undefeated in the last 7 years.

She played the game as a man would, coming in to rally on her service. She drove, she chopped, she lobbed, she volleyed, equally adept in any part of the court. Her opponents never got used to her game, never knew what she would do next. She loved to worry and puzzle them, keep them guessing. Rose loved every minute of a match, reveled in it, the cheeriest personality one could imagine, yet despite her carefree style she could be desperately serious too, and concentrate with the best.
The chain smoking ex-tennis champ took up horse training and golf.



Here you can find a short article (with a picture) about Rose Payten:
The History Buff: Rose Hannah Payten - Sportswoman Extraordinaire

[Thanks to GeeTee and LKK for this information]
 
#1,480 · (Edited by Moderator)
PEACOCK, IRENE (nee Irene Evelyn Bowder)
India/South Africa
Born 27 July 1892 in Ferozepore, India
Died 13 June 1978
Married Gerald Eustace Peacock, 14 November 1917
[Active 1915-1932]

French singles finalist in 1927; winning the doubles with Bobbie Heine.

Born in India, where she learned her tennis and wed, Mrs Peacock came to South Africa via England in the early 1920s. Her Indian pedigree was impressive, having won the Indian Championships every year from 1915 to 1920. 1921 was her first experience in major European events. The the World Hard Court Championships Suzanne Lenglen easily beat her 6-1 6-0. Irene and partner Geraldine Beamish got to the finals in doubles at Wimbledon, predictably losing 6-1 6-2 to the invincible pairing of Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan. In singles she reached the semis, barely losing to Ryan 8-6 6-4.

She repeated this good form the next year by pushing Suzanne Lenglen in the 1922 Wimbledon semifinal. Though losing 6-4 6-1, it showed that Mrs Peacock was easily in the world's top ten. Mrs G. Peacock, as she was often called at the time, had won the pre-Wimbledon won the Middlesex Championships, beating Elizabeth Ryan and Kitty McKane in the process.

Her absence the next few years from Wimbledon (she would not enter again until 1927) is explained by her emigration to South Africa in the second half of 1922.

Settling in the Transvaal, Irene captured the Southern Transvaal titles in 1922 and 1924. More importantly, she won the South African Championships from 1924 to 1926-including a 'triple' (singles, doubles, and mixed) in 1925.

Irene led the 3 woman South African team in 1927 that journeyed to Europe to complete. The book on South African tennis describes her as a mentor to Bobbie Heine. They were certainly successful as a pair, winning the French Open and reaching the final at Wimbledon.
She was an immense help in furthering the tennis of the gifted South African girl [Bobbie Heine]--From Tennis, The South African Story, page 81
The 1927 French was her best slam performance in singles. Seeded #4 she won tight three sets matches over Cilly Aussem (6-4 in the third) and Eileen Bennett (9-7 in the third), both after dropping the first set. In the final Kea Bouman won 6-2 6-4. She remained the only South African female to reach a slam final in singles until Sandra Reynolds in the late 1950s.

A few weeks later at Wimbledon she was seeded #8, as good a measure as any of how high her status was. In the quarterfinals she lost to #1 seed Helen Wills 6-3 6-1.

After 1927 she disappears from view, making one last return to Wimbledon in 1932 at the age of almost 40.

In the 1920s it took weeks by boat to reach Europe from India or South Africa. With so much of her prime tennis years spent in far flung areas marginal to big time tennis one can only speculate on how much of her potential was fulfilled. After all she only entered Wimbledon on four occasions (1921-1922, 1927, and 1932); the last when past her prime.

Photos suggest she was taller than average, and slim with long arms. She remained active, not giving up gold until the age of 81.

Her husband was a British Medical Army Officer stationed in Peshawar as of 1919. Her journeys were more likely than not due to his postings and subsequent career. He was still an officer (Lieutenant-Colonel) as late as 1931.

World Top Ten Rankings (from p 918 of Bud Collins, Total Tennis, published 2003)

1921: #7 (India)
1922: #6 (India)

June 1921 in Paris for the World Hard Court Championships




Sources:

Russell, Eldridge (ed). Tennis: The South African Story. 1977. pages 17, 30, 81.

Churchman Lawn Tennis Cigarette Card (1928)

Indian Army List January 1919 - Volume 3, page 1800.
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33728/page/4072/data.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Bowder_Peacock

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Peacock

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Bowder

Archive - Draws Archive : Irene Peacock - 2015 Wimbledon Championships Website - Official Site by IBM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Z_CFJkpcg [A series of photos]

[Thanks to Rollo for this information]
 
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