Quote:
Originally Posted by trivfun
I confirmed this with Darlene when I emailed this question. I wrote a little piece about her. Here is an excerpt!
"Darlene and Maria Bueno became doubles partners when their respective partners, Jeanne Arth and Althea Gibson, retired from amateur tennis to pursue other endeavors. In 1960, they won 3 major doubles titles as well as many smaller tournaments. After their semifinal win at the 1961 French, Maria was diagnosed with hepatitis and couldn’t play the doubles final with Darlene. Also, the Brazilian tennis federation could not afford her medical expenses or bring her back to Brazil because her hepatitis could spread to others. Therefore, Darlene canceled her trip to Wimbledon to take care for Maria who was quarantined at a Paris hotel for nearly a month (Darlene was a pre-med student at Pomona College, studying to be a veterinarian). Angela Mortimer won that 1961 Wimbledon of whom Darlene easily beat that year."
© 2006 by Davan Mani as unpublished work
|
Wow, that was very nice of Darlene to stay in Paris instead of going to Wimbledon which she could have won!! It just shows how nice of a person she is and that with her friends come before tennis!!