Elizabeth Ryan
.jpg) |
|
| Full name | Elizabeth Montague Ryan |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |
 United States
|
| Born |
February 5, 1892 Anaheim, CA, USA |
| Died | July 6, 1979 (aged 87) Wimbledon, England |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1972 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 3 (1927) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| French Open | QF (1926, 1930, 1931) |
| Wimbledon | F (1921, 1930) |
| US Open | F (1926) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| French Open | W (1930, 1932, 1933, 1934) |
| Wimbledon | W (1914, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1930, 1933, 1934) |
| US Open | W (1926) |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| French Open | F (1934) |
| Wimbledon | W (1919, 1921, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1932) |
| US Open | W (1926, 1933) |
Elizabeth Montague Ryan (February 5, 1892 – July 6, 1979) was an American tennis player who was born in Anaheim, California but lived most of her life in the United Kingdom. Ryan won 26 Grand Slam titles. Nineteen of those titles were in women's doubles and mixed doubles at Wimbledon, an all-time record for those two events. Twelve of her Wimbledon titles were in women's doubles and seven were in mixed doubles. Ryan also won four women's doubles titles at the French Championships, as well as one women's doubles title and two mixed doubles titles at the U.S. Championships.
Although she reached the Wimbledon singles finals twice, Ryan never won the title. Eight of her losses at Wimbledon were to players generally considered to be among the best ever. Ryan had to play Dorothea Lambert Chambers in the all-comers final of 1920; Suzanne Lenglen in the 1919 semifinals (losing 6–4, 7–5), 1921 final, 1922 quarterfinals, 1924 quarterfinals (losing 6–2, 6–8, 6–4), and 1925 second round; and Helen Wills Moody in the 1928 semifinals and 1930 final.
In the 1926 singles final at the U.S. Championships, the 34-year-old Ryan led 42-year-old Molla Bjurstedt Mallory 4–6, 6–4, 4–0 and had a match point at 7–6 in the third set before losing the final three games of the match.
Ryan and her longtime partner Lenglen never lost a women's doubles match at Wimbledon, going 31–0. Only Billie Jean King (224 match wins) and Martina Navratilova won more matches at Wimbledon than Ryan (190 match wins): 47–15 in singles, 73–4 in women's doubles, and 70–9 in mixed doubles.
The longtime tennis writer Ted Tinling has credited Ryan with inventing the volleying style later perfected by players such as Sarah Palfrey Cooke, Alice Marble, Louise Brough Clapp, Margaret Osborne duPont, Doris Hart, Darlene Hard, Margaret Court, Navratilova, and King. "Before World War I, women's tennis consisted primary of slogging duels from the baseline. There were a few volleying pioneers, notably ... Hazel [Hotchkiss] Wightman and Ethel [Thomson] Larcombe, but volleying as a fundamental, aggressive technique was first injected into the women's game by ... Ryan." However, Tinling also said about Ryan, "Elizabeth wasn't fast enough for singles. Too heavy."
...
Wikipedia