Christine Truman

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Christine Truman
MBE
Full nameChristine Clara Truman Janes
ITF nameChristine Janes
Country (sports) United Kingdom
Born (1941-01-16) 16 January 1941 (age 83)
Loughton, England
PlaysRight-handed
Singles
Career record611-207 (74.7%)
Career titles38
Highest rankingNo. 2 (1959)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenSF (1960)
French OpenW (1959)
WimbledonF (1961)
US OpenF (1959)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenW (1960)
French OpenSF (1959)
WimbledonF (1959)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenSF (1960)
French OpenSF (1967)
WimbledonQF (1959)
US OpenSF (1958)
Team competitions
Wightman CupW (1958,1960,1968)

Christine Clara Truman Janes

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

Betty Rosenquest, and eventually lost to eventual champion Althea Gibson in the semifinals.[2][3]

In 1958, she caused a sensation by defeating Gibson, the reigning Wimbledon champion, in the

Dorothy Knode and won her doubles with Shirley Bloomer.[2]
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

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

Karen Hantze 6–4, 6–3.[6]

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 Renée Schuurman in the semifinal 6–4, 6–4 before losing to fellow Briton Angela Mortimer in the final.[7] 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.

Vera Suková, and Jan Lehane and the South African championships in 1965, beating Françoise Dürr 6–2, 6–4 and Annette Van Zyl 6–2, 6–3. She also won the doubles with Margaret Hunt Price.[9][10][11]

Truman had another comparatively successful Wimbledon run in 1965, when unseeded, she defeated sixth-seeded

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.[12] 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,[13]
and this injury led to an 18-month gap in her career. After this injury, she was not ranked 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.[3]

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 Körmöczy, Margaret Smith,

Billie Jean Moffitt, Sandra Reynolds, Karen Hantze, and Lesley Turner.[10] According to Lance Tingay, 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

Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to lawn tennis.[17] Since 2011 she has published several children's books.[18]

As of 2023, Truman is known as Doctor Christine Janes.[1]

Grand Slam finals

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

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Win 1959 French Championships Clay
Zsuzsi Körmöczy
 6–4, 7–5
Loss 1959 U.S. Championships Grass Brazil Maria Bueno 1–6, 4–6
Loss 1961 Wimbledon Grass United Kingdom Angela Mortimer 6–4, 4–6, 5–7

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

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1959 Wimbledon Grass
Beverly Baker
 United States Jeanne Arth
United States Darlene Hard		 6–2, 2–6, 3–6
Win 1960 Australian Championships Grass Brazil Maria Bueno
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# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
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

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. ^ a b "Royal box roll call day 13". wimbledon.com. 15 July 2023. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Tennis Today Truman, Christine Published by Arthur Barker (1961)
  3. ^
    OCLC 502175694
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 9780002183550
    .
  5. ^ "Christine Truman Upset At Women's Wimbledon". Kentucky New Era. AP. 24 June 1959.
  6. ^ Wimbledon Players Archive Christine Truman
  7. ISBN 9780047960420
    .
  8. ^ "Christine Truman Partially Blind, Mom Confirms". Star-News. UPI. 3 July 1962.
  9. ^ Daily Telegraph, March 31, 1964
  10. ^ a b Blast from the Past tennis archive
  11. ^ Lawn Tennis and Badminton, April 1, 1965
  12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ British Lawn Tennis September 1965
  14. ISBN 978-0-942257-41-0
    .
  15. ^ "Miss Truman marries at 26". The Age. 5 December 1967.
  16. ^ "My husband's dementia fight: Tennis legend Christine Truman Janes on partner's 'slippery road' to illness". 16 September 2018.
  17. ^ United Kingdom "No. 56237". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 16 June 2001. p. 18.
  18. ^ "Tennis ace serves up a new writing career". Norwich Evening News 24. Eastern Daily Press. 11 June 2011. Archived from the original on 1 January 2012.

External links

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