"Little Mo," lost just two out of her fifty-four matches in Grand Slams! Unreal! Makes it all the more sad that Maureen Connolly's career was cut short before the age of twenty.
She first appeared at a Grand Slam in the US Championships in Forest Hills in 1949. She'd won the junior singles, but could only reach the second round of the women's amateur edition. The next year, same result at Forest Hills.
But then things changed.
In 1952, she was still a teenager. But Little Mo was seeded fourth. She overcame Doris Hart, the number one seed, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals. The finals pitted Connolly against the second seed, Shirley Fry. Fry had quite a 1951 season, as she also had appeared in the finals of the French and Wimbledon.
Fry gave the young kid all she could handle. Fry was having quite a run at the US Amateur and no upstart was going to have it easy. Shirley had overcome two tough challenges herself in the quarterfinals and semifinals. She'd beaten a pair of English players in three tough sets. First was Kay Tuckley, 9-7, 3-6, 6-2. Then, in the semis, Jean Walker-Smith (The top seeded foreign player), 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.
So when the kid won the first set with relative ease, 6-3, Fry was in that position again: If she was going to win, she'd need three sets to do it!
And Fry did come back. Shirley thrashed Maureen 6-1 in the second stanza to level this. How would the kid respond? Unbelievably, Connolly was undaunted. She took the third set, 6-4, and at the age of sixteen, Maureen Connolly was the US Amateur Champion in 1951. Until another 16-year old, Tracy Austin in 1979, won the Open Championship, Maureen was the youngest ever winner.
Connolly was no flash-in-the-pan. The next year she won the first of three straight Wimbledon's. Maureen also was successful in her defence of the US title. She beat Doris Hart (A two-time winner) in straight sets in the finals.
1953 was her "Grand" year. Maureen won the Australian Amateur over American Julia Sampson. Then poor Doris Hart had to endure three straight Grand Slam finals losses to the kid. Doris' 6-2, 6-4 loss at the US Amateur that year gave the 18-year-old all four major singles titles that year.
And 1954 just seemed to be better: Rolland-Garros was won in straight sets in the finals, and so was Wimbledon over Louis Brough! What could stop the 19-year-old from a fourth-straight US title?
Sadly, Maureen Connolly was in a horseback accident just two weeks later. The accident, which damaged her right fibula, put an abrupt end to her career before her twentieth birthday (Which was September 17th). A year later, she was married and soon became a tennis coach. And like Herb Score, the baseball pitcher whose career was cut short around that time, Maureen turned to tennis broadcasting.
In the mid-1960s Connolly developed cancer. Courageously, she fought it for three years. But on June 21st, 1969 (Just one day before Wimbledon) she passed away. Little Mo was just 34.
Overall, Connolly left quite a legacy. Not only did she win nine Grand Slams, but Maureen posted an amazing W-L record of 52-2 (A .963 W%). In addition to that, Connolly won the 1953 Australian Amateur doubles title with Julia Sampson (This was the only time she ever played in the event). This was her one and only trip to the tournament. She also won the 1954 French Amateur with Nell Hall Hopman. Hopman was at the time the wife of Harry Hopman, the great Australian coach. One of his star pupils was Lew Hoad. Connolly's one and only mixed doubles Grand Slam was with him at Rolland-Garros in '54.
References
AP. “Star-Studded Field Starts Net Play Today.” St. Petersburg Times, 29 Aug. 1949, pp. 8–8, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uy9PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mU4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2110,3506739.
Callery, Sean. The Pictorial History of Tennis. New York: Gallery, 1990. Print.
Collins, Bud. The Bud Collins History Of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia And Record Book. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: New Chapter, 2010. Print.
Haylett, John, and Richard Evans. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Tennis. New York: Exeter, 1989. Print.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Web. 12 Sept. 2019. <https://en.wikipedia.org>.
She first appeared at a Grand Slam in the US Championships in Forest Hills in 1949. She'd won the junior singles, but could only reach the second round of the women's amateur edition. The next year, same result at Forest Hills.
But then things changed.
In 1952, she was still a teenager. But Little Mo was seeded fourth. She overcame Doris Hart, the number one seed, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals. The finals pitted Connolly against the second seed, Shirley Fry. Fry had quite a 1951 season, as she also had appeared in the finals of the French and Wimbledon.
Fry gave the young kid all she could handle. Fry was having quite a run at the US Amateur and no upstart was going to have it easy. Shirley had overcome two tough challenges herself in the quarterfinals and semifinals. She'd beaten a pair of English players in three tough sets. First was Kay Tuckley, 9-7, 3-6, 6-2. Then, in the semis, Jean Walker-Smith (The top seeded foreign player), 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.
So when the kid won the first set with relative ease, 6-3, Fry was in that position again: If she was going to win, she'd need three sets to do it!
And Fry did come back. Shirley thrashed Maureen 6-1 in the second stanza to level this. How would the kid respond? Unbelievably, Connolly was undaunted. She took the third set, 6-4, and at the age of sixteen, Maureen Connolly was the US Amateur Champion in 1951. Until another 16-year old, Tracy Austin in 1979, won the Open Championship, Maureen was the youngest ever winner.
Connolly was no flash-in-the-pan. The next year she won the first of three straight Wimbledon's. Maureen also was successful in her defence of the US title. She beat Doris Hart (A two-time winner) in straight sets in the finals.
1953 was her "Grand" year. Maureen won the Australian Amateur over American Julia Sampson. Then poor Doris Hart had to endure three straight Grand Slam finals losses to the kid. Doris' 6-2, 6-4 loss at the US Amateur that year gave the 18-year-old all four major singles titles that year.
And 1954 just seemed to be better: Rolland-Garros was won in straight sets in the finals, and so was Wimbledon over Louis Brough! What could stop the 19-year-old from a fourth-straight US title?
Sadly, Maureen Connolly was in a horseback accident just two weeks later. The accident, which damaged her right fibula, put an abrupt end to her career before her twentieth birthday (Which was September 17th). A year later, she was married and soon became a tennis coach. And like Herb Score, the baseball pitcher whose career was cut short around that time, Maureen turned to tennis broadcasting.
In the mid-1960s Connolly developed cancer. Courageously, she fought it for three years. But on June 21st, 1969 (Just one day before Wimbledon) she passed away. Little Mo was just 34.
Overall, Connolly left quite a legacy. Not only did she win nine Grand Slams, but Maureen posted an amazing W-L record of 52-2 (A .963 W%). In addition to that, Connolly won the 1953 Australian Amateur doubles title with Julia Sampson (This was the only time she ever played in the event). This was her one and only trip to the tournament. She also won the 1954 French Amateur with Nell Hall Hopman. Hopman was at the time the wife of Harry Hopman, the great Australian coach. One of his star pupils was Lew Hoad. Connolly's one and only mixed doubles Grand Slam was with him at Rolland-Garros in '54.
References
AP. “Star-Studded Field Starts Net Play Today.” St. Petersburg Times, 29 Aug. 1949, pp. 8–8, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uy9PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mU4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2110,3506739.
Callery, Sean. The Pictorial History of Tennis. New York: Gallery, 1990. Print.
Collins, Bud. The Bud Collins History Of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia And Record Book. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: New Chapter, 2010. Print.
Haylett, John, and Richard Evans. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Tennis. New York: Exeter, 1989. Print.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Web. 12 Sept. 2019. <https://en.wikipedia.org>.
No comments:
Post a Comment