OK I am going to try and post my first Frankie Durr pictures that I scanned today - just bought the scanner today. So here goes...
There is one here with one of her favourite doubles partners - Betty Stove. Together they won the French and US Open Doubles as well as numerous other titles worldwide. They became one of the great pairs in the 70s, along with King-Casals and Court-Wade.
Check out that incredible backhand of Frankie's and look at how low down she squats to deliver it! Amazing. And such a limp wrist! LOL. Can you imagine her facing a booming serve from Venus with that sort of grip - she would break her wrist surely. Don't you just love her style.
Some more Durr backhands, including a marvellously camp volley at Roland Garros when she was playing la belle Goolagong. Plus a forehand volley with the famous frypan grip.
Here you go - some pics including Frankie's dog "Topspin" carrying her rackets onto court! Plus some others of her including some more funn fashion and collecting the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles trophy with Tony Roche in 1976.
Even if no one looks at these pics, at least I have a shrine for Frankie on the internet.
Here are a couple of Wimbledon pics I took about a dozen years ago (or had taken). The first one is when I met Frankie for the first time and she is signing and autograph a picture for me after one of her veteran's matches. The next one is a pic of Gail Chanfreau, Lesley Turner (Bowrey) and Betty Stove who I got to meet through Frankie. We were all sitting there cheering on Frankie in one of her matches. Frankie's husband was on my other side so he's not in this pic although I do have some of him as well. Betty & Gail were very friendly, Lesley was a little reserved which was what I was expecting....
The final pic is of Betty and Rosie - we were having lunch in the players lounge thanks to Frankie giving me her 'last 8' tix at Wimbledon which give you access to the players lounge.
Just thought I would share a small part of the Durr photo library with any of you who were interested in one of the most unorthodox players to have ever played the game.
Yeah, I have heaps of pics from every era. Many are from old magazines (I have 1000s of mags from the 50s onwards) and from the hundreds of books in my library. Just call me a tennis junkie. LOL.
I have some beauties of the legendary Maria Bueno so I will post some of them over the Easter break for you. I even have two pics of myself with Maria at Wimbledon but I will spare you from those!
Hey tennisvideos, thanks for introduing me to her! I am really relating to her. Can you give me more info on her like, family background and how well she did on the tour?
Love to share some information about her. She was born in 1942 Algiers. She won the French Open singles in 1967 beating Maria Bueno in the Quarters and Lesley Turner in the Final. She won 26 Singles titles in alll and she was ranked Number 3 in the world in 1967. She was in the top 10 between 1965 abd 1976. She was voted one of Tennis Magazine's most outstanding 20 players between 1965 - 1985. Was #2 in Prizemoney in 1971 - only behind Billie-Jean King. During this year she beat the newly crowned Wimbledon and French Champion (Goolagong) in straight sets to win the Canadian Open.
She won 60 Doubles titles including 11 Grand Slam Doubles titles. This included winning 5 french Open Doubles in succession! And with 3 different partners! She was runner up in 6 Wimbledon Womens Doubles Finals (several in 3 sets to King-Casals). She won the 1976 Wimbledon Mixed Final with Tony Roche - her only Wimbledon title. She made the Wimbledon Singles Semis in 1970, losing to King, and was a quarter finalist many times at Wimbledon, and a Semi Finalist at the French on several occasions, losing to Evert and Goolagong in two of them.
Frankie had many wins over all the top players - except Evert. She never beat Chris, although she had many wins over King, Goolagong, Wade, Court, Bueno etc. In 1976, when she was 34 and nearing the end of her career she scored a stunning 6-1 6-1 victory over Martina Navratilova in the Semis if the Colgate Inaugural tournament, losing to Evert in the Final.
She was the captain of the French Fed Cup team for many years and until recently was the director of French Womens Tennis, part of the great resurgence in French tennis.
Personally, she is very funny and a sweet lady. I met her in the early 90s and have been friends ever since. I have even played with her during the Aussie Open on a practise court. She actually hits harder than she looked on TV - and I play high level mens comp in Sydney so I can guage her pace. She had her first and only child at the age of 46!!!! INCREDIBLE!!!!
She now lives outside of Paris and is still married to Boyd Browning. They used to live in Phoenix, Arizona USA and they might consider moving back to the states one day but they are still in France. She comes to the Aussie Open most years and I usually catch up and usually have dinner and see a movie.
That's about it for now. If you want to know any more about her just let me know.
I just thought I would give this thread a bump so more people might be able to share some of the marvellous Francoise Durr story and pictures. Check out the one wear she is wearing shorts and long coloured "football" type socks up to her knees! She beat Serena to this fashion statement by about 30 years !!! Gotta love her!
Frankie has been nominated for induction into the Hall of Fame this coming year, so it's appropriate to give her thread a rebirthing. I am saying a prayer that she is finally voted in, we have nominated her 3 times previously and she is still to be voted in! She is up against Nancy Richey in the Masters division, and I am hoping they are both voted in as they both deserve it.
I will have to get our scanner connected again. There are so many great pics of the past players but I need the scanner first. And then sometimes when i scan them the file size is too large to post them here! I have some beautiful pics of Ginny and Maria for example but everytime I tried to post them it said "file to large". Not sure how to fix that problem....
Hey Craig - Great picsd... God Betty Stove hasn't changed one little bit.... Interesting to see that both Durr and Richey have been dominated this year - does only one of them get in? I would certainly fancy Richey's chances as she had a pretty good Grand Slam record with 2 slam wins and a few finals...
TennisVideos: I love this thread and am amazed I've never actually seen it before; thanks for bumping it.... What wonderful photography indeed! Personally, I really dig some of her slightly off-kilter, amusing quotes. Without the unorthodox amongst us, how dreary and tedious this life might be! Should you or anyone ever assemble a website for this great player, I would hope they'd include her wicked spin of an ace past Kristen Kemmer Shaw during World Team Tennis*...too funny!
TennisVideos: I love this thread and am amazed I've never actually seen it before; thanks for bumping it.... What wonderful photography indeed! Personally, I really dig some of her slightly off-kilter, amusing quotes. Without the unorthodox amongst us, how dreary and tedious this life might be! Should you or anyone ever assemble a website for this great player, I would hope they'd include her wicked spin of an ace past Kristen Kemmer Shaw during World Team Tennis*...too funny!
Yes, I love the unorthodox as well ... have always gravitated to them for some strange reason. Beverly Baker-Fleitz is another that astonished me with her 2 forehands and not a backhand in site. I actually have about 12 minutes of her in the Wimbledon Final when she lost to Brough and she was amazing.
Yes, that ace over Kemmer is funny! i have another classic on video that I actually filmed myself in the Vets doubles at Wimbledon. She aced Rosie and Rosie screams out something in horror like "that's hideous" and got the crowd laughing. The funny thing was that Frankie just walked up for her next service as though it wasn't nothing out of the ordinary - and yet it was probably her first ace in 20 years!
Welcome to the Blast Encyclopedia of Female Tennis Players. While this is very much a work in progress, we intend to create an A to Z Encyclopedia of women who have played competitive tennis.
Finding players:
Players are listed from A to Z alphabetically by last name. Thus Daphne Akhurst will...
Welcome to the 2020 Blast quiz bowl.:)
The idea is simple-either post a tennis related question or answer it. Questions may be easy or difficult.
Each correct answer earns a point. At the end of the year we will crown a quiz bowl champion!
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03 Mark
03 Pam Shriver
02 Djo-couer
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I posted this in General Forum but wanted to share here as well:
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In my view a definitive GOAT is a myth. Having said that, what are the traits or aspects that your GOAT would have?
Please list you traits below. Feel free to edit your traits if you change your mind.
I'll use everyone' lists to start threads about the traits.
Well, everyone else is doing it! ;) :p
Chris is often regarded as a distant 4th in discussions about the greatest, after Nav, Graf, and Court. However, parts of her record are much better than these three players, and her career results overall are much more consistent.
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