Christine Truman

Christine Truman
Full name Christine Clara Truman Janes
ITF name Christine Janes
Country (sports)  United Kingdom
Born (1941-01-16) 16 January 1941
Woodford Green, England
Plays Right-handed
Singles
Highest ranking No. 2 (1959)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open SF (1960)
French Open W (1959)
Wimbledon F (1961)
US Open F (1959)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open W (1960)
French Open SF (1959)
Wimbledon F (1959)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open SF (1960)
French Open SF (1967)
Wimbledon QF (1959)
US Open SF (1958)
Team competitions
Wightman Cup W (1958,1960,1968)

Christine Truman Janes MBE (born 16 January 1941) is a female former tennis player from the United Kingdom who was active from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. She won a singles Grand Slam title at the French Championships in 1959 and was a finalist at Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships. She helped Great Britain win the Wightman Cup in 1958, 1960 and 1968.

Career

Christine Truman was a member of a tight-knit, supportive tennis-playing family. She often entered the Wimbledon mixed doubles with her brother.[1] She formed a successful doubles partnership with her younger sister Nell Truman. She was the British junior champion in 1956 and 1957. Truman made her debut at Wimbledon in 1957 at age 16, beating the third seed and then French champion Shirley Bloomer, American semifinalist Betty Rosenquest, and eventually lost to eventual champion Althea Gibson in the semifinals.[1][2]

In 1958, she caused a sensation by defeating Gibson, the reigning Wimbledon champion, in the Wightman Cup and helped bring the cup back to Great Britain after 21 consecutive defeats by the United States.[3] She also beat Dorothy Knode and won her doubles with Shirley Bloomer.[1] A few weeks later at Wimbledon, however, as the second seed she was defeated in the fourth round by the American Mimi Arnold. This loss helped start her reputation as an unpredictable player.

In 1959, she became the youngest women's singles champion at the French Championships at the age of 18,[lower-alpha 1] beating Sandra Reynolds in three sets and defending champion Zsuzsa Körmöczy in straight sets in the final. That year, by far her best, also saw her as the winner of the Italian Championships, beating Yola Ramirez and, in an astonishing final, Sandra Reynolds by 6-0, 6-1. In 1959, she also was runner-up at the U.S. Championships[3] to Maria Bueno after beating Dorothy Knode and Ann Haydon. She failed, however, to justify her top seeding at Wimbledon where she lost in the fourth round to Yola Ramírez.[4] In doubles at Wimbledon, Truman partnered Beverly Baker to reach the women's doubles final (where they lost to Darlene Hard and Jeanne Arth).

In 1960, she was the third seed at Wimbledon, where she lost the semifinal to Maria Bueno in three sets. She also lost to Bueno in the semifinals of the U.S. Open. She teamed with Bueno to win the women's doubles title at the Australian Championships that year. She won the British Hard Courts championships by beating Angela Mortimer 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 and Ann Haydon 6-2, 6-2. She also won Queen's, beating the future Wimbledon winner Karen Hantze 6-4, 6-3.[5]

In 1961, she was the sixth seed at Wimbledon and defeated the second seed Margaret Smith 3–6, 6–3, 9–7 in a quarterfinal after trailing 4–1 in the final set and saving two match points. She then beat Renee Schuurman in the semifinal 6–4, 6–4 before losing to fellow Briton Angela Mortimer in the final.[6] During this match, Truman suffered a heavy fall that may have cost her the match.

In July 1962 it was revealed that Truman is partially blind in her left eye.[7] After a poor year in 1962, she came back in 1963 to reach the semifinals of the French and quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, losing in three sets to Margaret Smith. She also won Monte Carlo in 1964 beating top ten players Helga Schultze, Vera Sukova, and Jan Lehane and the South African championships in 1965, beating Francoise Durr 6-2, 6-4 and Annette Van Zyl 6-2, 6-3. She also won the doubles with Margaret Hunt Price [8][9][10]

Truman had another comparatively successful Wimbledon run in 1965, when unseeded, she defeated sixth-seeded Carole Caldwell Graebner, Judy Tegart, Julie Heldman, and fourth-seeded Nancy Richey. Her run to the semi-final held some irony as it was the first time in Wimbledon history that no British player had been seeded in the women's championship. She was defeated by no. 2 seed (and eventual champion) Margaret Smith in the semi-final 6-4, 6-0.[11] She had been affected by injury and illness in 1961, 1964, and 1965. In 1965, during practice for the Wightman Cup, Truman severely hurt her Achilles tendon for the second time,[12] and this injury led to an 18-month gap in her career. After this injury, she was not ranked again in the world's top ten again.

In April 1968, she and her sister Nell Truman became the first winners of an open tennis event by winning the women's doubles title at the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth.[2]

Her tennis was an all-attack game, reaching the net at the earliest possibility. She had a tremendously strong, flat forehand, balanced with a sliced backhand, excellent volleys and smash, and hard serve.

During her career, Truman had wins over most of the other leading players of her day, including Althea Gibson (Wightman Cup 1958); Maria Bueno (Pacific Coast 1958 and Caribbean 1959); Darlene Hard several times, notably in the Wightman Cup in 1959; British rivals Angela Mortimer, Ann Haydon, Shirley Bloomer Brasher, all on several occasions; Zsuszi Kormoczy, Margaret Smith, Billie Jean Moffit, Sandra Reynolds, Karen Hantze, and Lesley Turner.[13] According to Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Truman was ranked in the world top 10 from 1957 to 1961 as well as 1965, and she reached a career high ranking of world no. 2 in 1959.[14]

In December 1967, she married former Wasps player Gerry Janes and they have four children,[15] including former pro tennis player Amanda Keen. She retired from tennis in 1975 and became a commentator for BBC Radio the same year. In the 2001 Queen's Birthday's Honours list, she was awarded an MBE for her "services to sport". Since 2011 she has published several children's books.[16]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Winner 1959 French Championships Clay Hungary Zsuzsi Körmöczy 6–4, 7–5
Runner-up 1959 U.S. Championships Grass Brazil Maria Bueno 1–6, 4–6
Runner-up 1961 Wimbledon Grass United Kingdom Angela Mortimer Barrett 6–4, 4–6, 5–7

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Runner-up 1959 Wimbledon Grass United States Beverly Baker United States Jeanne Arth
United States Darlene Hard 		6–2, 2–6, 3–6
Winner 1960 Australian Championships Grass Brazil Maria Bueno Australia Lorraine Coghlan Robinson
Australia Margaret Smith 		6–2, 5–7, 6–2

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF R# RR Q# A NH
(W) Won tournament; reached (F) final, (SF) semifinal, (QF) quarterfinal; (R#) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a (RR) round-robin stage; reached a (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; or (NH) tournament not held.
Tournament 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 Career SR
Australia A A A SF A A 2R A 3R A A A A A A A A A 0 / 3
France 1R QF W A QF 4R SF QF A A 3R A A A A A A A 1 / 8
Wimbledon SF 4R 4R SF F 3R 4R 2R SF A 1R 2R 4R A 4R A 1R 3R 0 / 15
United States 3R QF F SF QF A QF A A A A A 3R A A A A A 0 / 7
SR 0 / 3 0 / 3 1 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 2 0 / 4 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 1 1 / 33

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ That record has since been broken by Steffi Graf in 1987, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 1989, and Monica Seles in 1990.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Tennis Today Truman, Christine Published by Arthur Barker (1961)
  2. 1 2 John Barrett, ed. (1969). BP Yearbook of World Tennis. London: Ward Lock. pp. 194, 199. ISBN 978-0706318241. OCLC 502175694.
  3. 1 2 John Barrett, ed. (1990). The International Tennis Federation : World of Tennis 1990. London: Willow Books. pp. 364, 365. ISBN 9780002183550.
  4. ↑ "Christine Truman Upset At Women's Wimbledon". Kentucky New Era. AP. 24 June 1959.
  5. ↑ Wimbledon Players Archive Christine Truman
  6. ↑ Robertson, Max (1974). The Encyclopedia of Tennis. London: Allen & Unwin. pp. 270, 271. ISBN 9780047960420.
  7. ↑ "Christine Truman Partially Blind, Mom Confirms". Star-News. UPI. 3 July 1962.
  8. ↑ Daily Telegraph, March 31st 1964
  9. ↑ Blast from the Past tennis archive
  10. ↑ Lawn Tennis and Badminton, April 1st, 1965
  11. ↑ http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/draws/archive/1965/LS/rSs1.html
  12. ↑ British Lawn Tennis September 1965
  13. ↑ Blast from the Past Tennis Archive
  14. ↑ Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 703. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
  15. ↑ "Miss Truman marries at 26". The Age. 5 December 1967.
  16. ↑ "Tennis ace serves up a new writing career". Norwich Evening News 24. Eastern Daily Press. 11 June 2011.

External links

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