Helen Jacobs
East Hampton, New York, U.S. | |
Retired | 1947 |
---|---|
Int. Tennis HoF | 1962 (member page) |
Singles | |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (1936, A. Wallis Myers) |
Grand Slam singles results | |
French Open | F (1930, 1934) |
Wimbledon | W (1936) |
US Open | W (1932, 1933, 1934, 1935) |
Doubles | |
Grand Slam doubles results | |
French Open | F (1934) |
Wimbledon | F (1932, 1936, 1939) |
US Open | W (1932, 1934, 1935) |
Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
US Open | W (1934) |
Team competitions | |
Wightman Cup | (1927, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1939) |
Helen Hull Jacobs (August 6, 1908 – June 2, 1997) was an American tennis player who won nine Grand Slam titles. In 1936 she was ranked No. 1 in singles by A. Wallis Myers.
Early life
Jacobs was born in Globe, Arizona, and was Jewish.[1][2] Her parents, Roland (a mining executive, and then a newspaper advertising executive) and Eula Jacobs, moved the family to San Francisco in 1914.[3] She was the best-known Jewish female player of the interwar period.[4]
Tennis career
Jacobs had a powerful serve and overhead smash and a sound backhand, but she never learned to hit a flat forehand, despite her friendship with, and some coaching from,
Jacobs won five
Jacobs won three Grand Slam women's doubles titles and one in mixed doubles. She was the runner-up at six Grand Slam women's doubles tournaments and one Grand Slam mixed doubles tournament. She won the singles and women's doubles titles at the
According to A. Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Jacobs was ranked in the world top 10 from 1928 through 1939 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of World No. 1 in those rankings in 1936.[8] With the exceptions of 1930 and 1938, Jacobs was included in the year-end top 10 rankings by the United States Tennis Association from 1927 through 1941. She was the top-ranked U.S. player from 1932 through 1935.[9]
Jacobs was a member of the U.S. Wightman Cup team from 1927 through 1937 and again in 1939. Her lifetime record was 19–11.
In 1933, Jacobs became the first woman to break with tradition by wearing man-tailored shorts at Wimbledon.
While she was still playing tennis, Jacobs became a writer. Her first books were Modern Tennis (1933) and Improve Your Tennis (1936). She also wrote fictional works, such as Storm Against the Wind (1944). Her autobiography Beyond the Game appeared in 1936. In 1949, she published Gallery of Champions, a collection of biographies of female players, which she dedicated to Molla Mallory.[10]
Honors and awards
Jacobs was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1933. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1962. In 2015, she was inducted into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.[11]
World War II and personal life
Jacobs served as a commander in the U.S. Navy intelligence during World War II, one of only five women to achieve that rank in the Navy.[6]
Long known to have been
Grand Slam finals
Singles (5 titles, 11 runners-up)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 1928 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Helen Wills | 2–6, 1–6 |
Loss | 1929 | Wimbledon Championships |
Grass | Helen Wills | 1–6, 2–6 |
Loss | 1930 | French Championships | Clay | Helen Wills Moody | 2–6, 1–6 |
Loss | 1932 | Wimbledon Championships | Grass | Helen Wills Moody | 3–6, 1–6 |
Win | 1932 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Carolin Babcock | 6–2, 6–2 |
Win | 1933 | U.S. National Championships (2) | Grass | Helen Wills Moody | 8–6, 3–6, 3–0 retired |
Loss | 1934 | French Championships | Clay | Margaret Scriven | 5–7, 6–4, 1–6 |
Loss | 1934 | Wimbledon Championships | Grass | Dorothy Round | 2–6, 7–5, 3–6 |
Win | 1934 | U.S. National Championships (3) | Grass | Sarah Palfrey | 6–1, 6–4 |
Loss | 1935 | Wimbledon Championships | Grass | Helen Wills Moody | 3–6, 6–3, 5–7 |
Win | 1935 | U.S. National Championships (4) | Grass | Sarah Palfrey Fabyan | 6–2, 6–4 |
Win | 1936 | Wimbledon Championships | Grass | Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling | 6–2, 4–6, 7–5 |
Loss | 1936 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Alice Marble | 6–4, 3–6, 2–6 |
Loss | 1938 | Wimbledon Championships | Grass | Helen Wills | 4–6, 0–6 |
Loss | 1939 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Alice Marble | 0–6, 10–8, 4–6 |
Loss | 1940 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Alice Marble | 2–6, 3–6 |
Women's doubles (3 titles, 6 runner-ups)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 1931 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Dorothy Round | Betty Nuthall Eileen Bennett Whittingstall |
2–6, 4–6 |
Loss | 1932 | Wimbledon Championships |
Grass | Elizabeth Ryan | Doris Metaxa Josane Sigart |
4–6, 3–6 |
Win | 1932 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Sarah Palfrey | Alice Marble Marjorie Morrill |
8–6, 6–1 |
Loss | 1934 | French Championships | Clay | Sarah Palfrey | Simonne Mathieu Elizabeth Ryan |
6–3, 4–6, 2–6 |
Win | 1934 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Sarah Palfrey | Carolin Babcock Dorothy Andrus |
4–6, 6–3, 6–4 |
Win | 1935 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Sarah Palfrey Fabyan | Carolin Babcock Dorothy Andrus |
6–4, 6–2 |
Loss | 1936 | Wimbledon Championships | Grass | Sarah Palfrey Fabyan | Freda James Kay Stammers |
2–6, 1–6 |
Loss | 1936 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Sarah Palfrey Fabyan | Marjorie Gladman Van Ryn Carolin Babcock |
7–9, 6–2, 4–6 |
Loss | 1939 | Wimbledon Championships | Grass | Billie Yorke | Alice Marble Sarah Palfrey Fabyan |
1–6, 0–6 |
Mixed doubles (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 1932 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Ellsworth Vines | Sarah Palfrey Fred Perry |
3–6, 5–7 |
Win | 1934 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | George Lott | Elizabeth Ryan Lester Stoefen |
4–6, 13–11, 6–2 |
Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.
Tournament | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929 | 1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | Career SR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Championships | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | NH | 0 / 0 |
French Championships | A | A | A | A | A | F | QF | QF | SF | F | SF | A | QF | A | A | NH | R | 0 / 7 |
Wimbledon
|
A | A | A | 3R | F | QF | SF | F | SF | F | F | W | QF | F | QF | NH | NH | 1 / 12 |
U.S. Championships
|
2R | A | SF | F | SF | A | QF | W | W | W | W | F | SF | 3R | F | F | SF | 4 / 15 |
SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 1 / 3 | 1 / 3 | 1 / 3 | 1 / 3 | 1 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 5 / 34 |
Bibliography
- Modern Tennis (1933)
- Improve Your Tennis (1936)
- Beyond the game: an autobiography (1936)
- "By your leave, sir" : the story of a WAVE (1943)
- Storm Against the Wind (1944)
- Laurel for Judy (1945)
- Adventure in Blue Jeans (1947)
- Gallery of Champions (1949)
- Center Court (1950)
- Proudly she serves! The realistic story of a tennis champion who becomes a Wave (1953)
- The young sportsman's guide to tennis (1961)
- Beginner's Guide to Winning Tennis (1961)
- Judy, Tennis Ace (1961)
- Better physical fitness for girls (1964)
- Courage to Conquer (1967)
- The Tennis Machine (1972)
- Famous modern American women athletes (1975)
See also
- Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final
- List of select Jewish tennis players
References
- ISBN 9781557536990– via Google Books.
- ^ "The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle from Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 10, 1936 · Page 6". Newspapers.com.
- ISBN 9780684806655– via Google Books.
- ^ ISBN 9781612493565.
- ^ Obituary: Helen Jacobs
- ^ a b c "Helen Jacobs, Tennis Champion in the 1930s, Dies at 88". The New York Times. June 4, 1997.
- ^ "Mrs. Wills Moody Achieves Her Ambition". Gloucester Citizen. British Newspaper Archive. 6 July 1935. p. 1.
- ISBN 978-0-942257-41-0.
- ^ United States Tennis Association (1988). 1988 Official USTA Tennis Yearbook. Lynn, Massachusetts: H.O. Zimman, Inc. p. 260.
- ^ "Jacobs, Helen Hull". WorldCat.
- ^ Jim Buzinski (27 July 2015). "9 inducted into National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame". Outsports.
- ^ Bingham, Emily (2015). Irrepressible: The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham. New York, N.Y: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 223–266.
- ISBN 9780809094646– via Google Books.
- ^ Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 23378). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.