Maureen Connolly
Maureen Connolly in 1953
|
|
| Full name | Maureen Catherine Connolly |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |
 United States
|
| Born |
September 17, 1934 San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Died | June 21, 1969 (aged 34) Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) |
| Turned pro | amateur |
| Retired | February 1955 (age 20) |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| College |
Southern Methodist University (1964–196x) |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1968 (member page) |
| Official website | mcbtennis.org |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1952) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1953) |
| French Open | W (1953, 1954) |
| Wimbledon | W (1952, 1953, 1954) |
| US Open | W (1951, 1952, 1953) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1953) |
| French Open | W (1954) |
| Wimbledon | F (1952, 1953) |
| US Open | F (1952) |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | F (1953) |
| French Open | W (1954) |
| Wimbledon | SF (1954) |
| Team competitions | |
| Wightman Cup | (1951, 1952, 1953, 1954) |
Maureen Catherine Connolly-Brinker (née Connolly; September 17, 1934 – June 21, 1969) known as "Little Mo", was an American tennis player, the winner of nine Grand Slam singles titles in the early 1950s. In 1953, she became the first woman to win all four Grand Slam tournaments during the same calendar year. The following year, a horseback riding accident injured her right leg and ended her competitive tennis career at age 19.
Maureen was born in San Diego, California on September 17, 1934, the first child of Martin and Jessamine Connolly. Her parents divorced when she was three years old and she was raised by her mother and an aunt. She loved horseback riding as a child, but her mother was unable to pay the cost of riding lessons. So, she took up the game of tennis. Connolly's tennis career began at the age of 10 on the municipal courts of San Diego. Her first coach, Wilbur Folsom, encouraged her to switch from a left-handed grip to right and she soon became a baseline specialist with tremendous power, accuracy, and a strong backhand. When she was eleven, Maureen was dubbed “Little Mo” by San Diego sportswriter Nelson Fisher who compared the power of her forehand and backhand to the firepower of the USS Missouri, known colloquially as “Big Mo”. In 1948 Folsom was replaced as her coach by Eleanor Tennant who had previously coached Alice Marble and Bobby Riggs, both Wimbledon and U.S. singles champion. At age 14, she won 56 consecutive matches and the following year became the youngest ever to win the U.S. national championship for girls 18 and under.
At the 1951 U.S. Championships, the 16-year-old Connolly defeated Shirley Fry to become, at that time, the youngest ever to win America's most prestigious tennis tournament. Her coach at the time was Eleanor Tennant.
Connolly won Wimbledon and successfully defended her U.S. title in 1952. For the 1953 season, she hired a new coach, the Australian Davis Cup captain Harry Hopman, and entered all four Grand Slam tournaments for the first time. She defeated Julie Sampson Haywood in the Australian Championships final and Doris Hart in the finals of the French Championships, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Championships to become the first woman, and only the second tennis player after Don Budge, to win the world's four major titles in the same year, commonly known as a "Grand Slam". She lost only one set in those four tournaments.
...
Wikipedia