Summary
It's Waltzing Matilda time, as for the first time ever Australians sit atop both the men's and women's rankings.
Male Aussie dominance has been common since the 1950s. Rod Laver continues the tradition by sweeping all 4 majors for the Grand Slam.
Shy Margaret Smith isn't far behind though capturing 3 out of 4 majors.
The first leg was easy, as Smith pushed aside a field of fellow Aussies, including a 6-0 6-2 rout of Jan Lehane in the final. Success in Europe followed, including the prestigious Italian Open. When Margaret won the French at Roland Garros she was halfway home to the Grand Slam. It was a quite a final though-Smith winning only after a 6-3 3-6 7-5 struggle.
Centre Court at Wimbledon proved a disaster however. A tiny bespacled American named Billie Jean Moffitt sent Margaret packing in her first match. It was the first time in history a #1 woman's seed went out in her opening match at the Championships. "Little Miss Moffitt" (later King) embraced the Centre Court, while this incident gave Smith a fear od Centre Court and Wimbledon that many said she never got over completely.
Upsets galore continued, as Czech Vera Sukova took out defending champion Angela Mortimer, Darlene Hard, and favorite Maria Bueno. Young Karen Susman is only 19 and,Billie Jean's doubles partner, came through the other side of the draw. How much an ankle injury affected Sukova is hard to day. Susman won 6-4 6-4 and became the most surprising Wimbledon female up to this point.
Order was restored by the end of the summer, as Margaret Smith topped Darlene Hard 9-7 6-4 at Forest Hills in the final. It took a lot of mental fortitude on Smith's part, as Hard whipped up the crowd by contesting line calls and crying on the backstop in the 2nd set. Darlene had hurt herself in not converting on a set point and serving up 16 double faults.
Margaret Smith now was #1 without a doubt after becoming the first Australian female to win the Italian, French, and US Championships. Only Wimbledon had escaped her grasp. Her record for the year was 67-2, winning 13 of 15 titles.
World Rankings
01. Margaret Smith (Australia)
02. Maria Bueno (Brazil)
03. Darlene Hard (United States)
04. Karen Hantze Susman (United States)
05. Vera Sukova (Czechoslovakia)
06. Sandra Reynolds Price (South Africa)
07. Lesley Turner (Australia)
08. Ann Haydon (Great Britian)
09. Renee Schuurman (South Africa)
10. Anglea Mortimer (Great Britain)
--------------------------------
Major thanks to Ugarte. Many results here are directly from him. His thread on 1962 is posted at:
Thread 1962 - TennisForum.com=
Fix date and scores for River Plate if possible.
did the NYT up through January 17 (start Jan 18) and also did August 7-20
Covered the London Times from Jan 1-15 and July 10-31
It's Waltzing Matilda time, as for the first time ever Australians sit atop both the men's and women's rankings.
Male Aussie dominance has been common since the 1950s. Rod Laver continues the tradition by sweeping all 4 majors for the Grand Slam.
Shy Margaret Smith isn't far behind though capturing 3 out of 4 majors.
The first leg was easy, as Smith pushed aside a field of fellow Aussies, including a 6-0 6-2 rout of Jan Lehane in the final. Success in Europe followed, including the prestigious Italian Open. When Margaret won the French at Roland Garros she was halfway home to the Grand Slam. It was a quite a final though-Smith winning only after a 6-3 3-6 7-5 struggle.
Centre Court at Wimbledon proved a disaster however. A tiny bespacled American named Billie Jean Moffitt sent Margaret packing in her first match. It was the first time in history a #1 woman's seed went out in her opening match at the Championships. "Little Miss Moffitt" (later King) embraced the Centre Court, while this incident gave Smith a fear od Centre Court and Wimbledon that many said she never got over completely.
Upsets galore continued, as Czech Vera Sukova took out defending champion Angela Mortimer, Darlene Hard, and favorite Maria Bueno. Young Karen Susman is only 19 and,Billie Jean's doubles partner, came through the other side of the draw. How much an ankle injury affected Sukova is hard to day. Susman won 6-4 6-4 and became the most surprising Wimbledon female up to this point.
Order was restored by the end of the summer, as Margaret Smith topped Darlene Hard 9-7 6-4 at Forest Hills in the final. It took a lot of mental fortitude on Smith's part, as Hard whipped up the crowd by contesting line calls and crying on the backstop in the 2nd set. Darlene had hurt herself in not converting on a set point and serving up 16 double faults.
Margaret Smith now was #1 without a doubt after becoming the first Australian female to win the Italian, French, and US Championships. Only Wimbledon had escaped her grasp. Her record for the year was 67-2, winning 13 of 15 titles.
World Rankings
01. Margaret Smith (Australia)
02. Maria Bueno (Brazil)
03. Darlene Hard (United States)
04. Karen Hantze Susman (United States)
05. Vera Sukova (Czechoslovakia)
06. Sandra Reynolds Price (South Africa)
07. Lesley Turner (Australia)
08. Ann Haydon (Great Britian)
09. Renee Schuurman (South Africa)
10. Anglea Mortimer (Great Britain)
--------------------------------
Major thanks to Ugarte. Many results here are directly from him. His thread on 1962 is posted at:
Thread 1962 - TennisForum.com=
Fix date and scores for River Plate if possible.
did the NYT up through January 17 (start Jan 18) and also did August 7-20
Covered the London Times from Jan 1-15 and July 10-31