Eleonora Sears
 |
|
| Full name | Eleonora Randolph Sears |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |
 United States
|
| Born |
October 28, 1881 Boston, MA, United States |
| Died | March 16, 1968 (aged 86) Palm Beach, FL, United States |
| Plays | Right-handed |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1968 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No.6 (US ranking) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| US Open | F (1912) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| US Open | W (1911, 1915, 1916, 1917) |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| US Open | W (1916) |
Eleonora Randolph Sears (September 28, 1881 – March 16, 1968) was an American tennis champion of the 1910s. In addition, she was a champion squash player, and prominent in other sports; she is considered one of the leading all-round women athletes of the first half of the 20th century.
Sears was the daughter of Boston businessman Frederick Richard Sears, a cousin of Henry Cabot Lodge, and a great-granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson. Sears' father was also known for playing the first tennis game in the United States, his opponent being his cousin James Dwight who brought the game from Europe.
Sears was raised in wealth and privilege. She was acquainted with Corinne Douglass Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt, all related to President Theodore Roosevelt. She played tennis at a competition organized by Ava Lowle Willing, the wife of John Jacob Astor IV, and she attended the wedding of tennis champion Robert Wrenn. For a while she dated Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, the sporty scion of the Vanderbilt fortune.
Sears won the women's doubles at the US Women's National Championship four times, including three consecutively (1915–1917). In singles, she was a finalist in 1912, where she was beaten in straight sets by Mary Kendall Browne. She teamed with Willis E. Davis to take the national mixed doubles championship in 1916.
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