Rosemary Casals
| Full name | Rosemary Casals |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |
 United States
|
| Born |
September 16, 1948 San Francisco, California, USA |
| Height | 5 ft 2 1⁄2 in (1.59 m) |
| Turned pro | 1968 |
| Plays | Right-handed |
| Prize money | US$ 1,362,222 |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1996 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 595–325 |
| Highest ranking | No. 3 (1970) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Australian Open | SF (1967) |
| French Open | QF (1969, 1970) |
| Wimbledon | SF (1967, 1969, 1970, 1972) |
| US Open | F (1970, 1971) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 508–214 |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | F (1969) |
| French Open | F (1968, 1970, 1982) |
| Wimbledon | W (1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1973) |
| US Open | W (1967, 1971, 1974, 1982) |
| Other doubles tournaments | |
| Tour Finals | W (1971, 1973, 1974) |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | SF (1969) |
| French Open | SF (1969, 1970, 1972) |
| Wimbledon | W (1970, 1972) |
| US Open | W (1975) |
| Team competitions | |
| Fed Cup | W (1970, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981) |
| Wightman Cup | W (1967, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982) |
Rosemary "Rosie" Casals (born September 16, 1948) is a former American professional tennis player.
Rosemary Casals earned her reputation as a rebel in the tennis world when she began competing in the early 1960s. During a tennis career that spanned more than two decades, she won more than 90 tournaments, and was a motivating force behind many of the changes that occurred in women's tennis during the 1960s and 1970s.
Casals was born in 1948 in San Francisco to poor parents who had immigrated to the United States from El Salvador. Less than a year after Casals was born, her parents decided they could not care for her and her older sister, Victoria. Casals's great-uncle and great-aunt, Manuel and Maria Casals, took the young girls in and raised them as their own. When the children grew older, Manuel Casals took them to the public tennis courts of San Francisco and taught them how to play the game. He became the only coach Casals would ever have. But Nick Carter, former touring pro, father to Denise Carter-Triolo, who was once nationally ranked and made it to the fourth round at Wimbledon, gave her some lessons. He was the teacher of many ranking junior players, including Jeoff Brown, national junior doubles champ, and others at Arden Hills club, Sacramento, California, where Mark Spitz trained. Casals used a continental forehand like he did, with the power in it that all his students had, using the "racket back, step, and hit" method.
While still just a teenager, Casals began to rebel on the court. She hated the tradition of younger players competing only against each other on the junior circuit. Gutsy and determined right from the start, Casals wanted to work as hard as possible to better her game. For an added challenge, she often entered tournaments to play against girls who were two or three years older.
Junior tennis was the first of several obstacles Casals faced during her tennis career. At five-feet-two-inches tall, she was one of the shortest players on the court. Another disadvantage for her was class distinction. Traditionally, tennis was a sport practiced in expensive country clubs by the white upper class. Casals's ethnic heritage and poor background immediately set her apart from most of the other players. "The other kids had nice tennis clothes, nice rackets, nice white shoes, and came in Cadillacs," Casals told a reporter for People. "I felt stigmatized because we were poor."
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Wikipedia