May Sutton

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

May Sutton
Santa Monica, California, US
Height5 ft 4.5 in (1.64 m)
PlaysRight-handed
Int. Tennis HoF1956 (member page)
Singles
Grand Slam singles results
French Open2R (1929)
WimbledonW (1905, 1907)
US OpenW (1904)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
US OpenW (1904)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
US OpenF (1904)
May Sutton (between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915)
May Sutton

May Godfrey Sutton (September 25, 1886 – October 4, 1975) was an American

Wimbledon
.

Biography

May Sutton was born on September 25, 1886

U.S. Championships on her first attempt and became the youngest US champion in history.[5] She also teamed with Miriam Hall to win the women's doubles title and came close to making it a clean sweep by advancing to the mixed doubles final.[8]

She was unable to defend her U.S. title as she traveled to England in May 1905 to compete in the

Dorothea Douglass Chambers in the challenge round. She did it while shocking the British audience by rolling up her sleeves to bare her elbows and wearing a skirt that showed her ankles. For the next two years, she and Chambers met in the final, with Chambers recapturing the title in 1906 and Sutton winning it back in 1907.[10]

Sutton was the 1908

Rose Parade Queen in Pasadena.[6]

On December 11, 1912, she married

John Doeg, won the U.S. Championships in 1930, and in 1938, daughter Dorothy won the Australian Championships
.

In 1956, Sutton was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.[12] She never stopped playing tennis and was playing regularly well into her late 80s.

Sutton died of cancer on October 4, 1975, in Santa Monica, California and was interred in the local

Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery.[13]

Playing style

Eight-time U.S. National Championship winner

Molla Bjurstedt Mallory indicated that Sutton was the best player she had met. "Her drive was the fastest and the...most difficult...to handle, because it dove suddenly to the ground and then jumped up unexpectedly with queer curves. When she could keep her drives near the baseline, they either forced me back farther than I had been accustomed to play or compelled me to make errors. She was also strong overhead when she came to the net and altogether had more power and effectiveness than any other woman tennis player of her time". Sutton played with an extreme Western grip and had a powerful topspin forehand that made the ball dip and bound high.[14]

Grand Slam finals

Singles : 3 titles, 1 runner-up

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Win 1904 U.S. Championships Grass United States Elisabeth Moore 6–1, 6–2
Win 1905 Wimbledon Grass
Dorothea Douglass Chambers
 6–3, 6–4
Loss 1906 Wimbledon Grass United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Dorothea Douglass Chambers 3–6, 7–9
Win 1907 Wimbledon Grass United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Dorothea Douglass Chambers 6–1, 6–4

Doubles : 1 title, 1 runner-up

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1904 U.S. Championships Grass United States Miriam Hall United States Elisabeth Moore
United States Carrie Neely		 3–6, 6–3, 6–3
Loss 1925 U.S. Championships Grass United States Elizabeth Ryan
Mary K. Browne
United States Helen Wills
 4–6, 3–6

Mixed doubles : 1 runner-up

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1904 U.S. Championships Grass United States F.B. Dallas
Wylie Grant
 2–6, 1–6

References

  1. ^ "California tennis wonder astonishes the east". San Francisco Call. June 23, 1904. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
  2. ^ "Miss May Sutton photo". Oakland Tribune. July 21, 1904. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
  3. ^ "May Sutton tombstone". Retrieved September 9, 2021.
  4. ISBN 978-0803238176
    .
  5. ^
    AELTC
    .
  6. ^
    The Los Angeles Times
    .
  7. ^ Hult & Trekell 1991, p. 144
  8. ^ "Miss Sutton Tennis Champion" (PDF). The New York Times. June 26, 1904. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  9. ^ "Lawn Tennis – Northern Championships". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. British Newspaper Archive. June 19, 1905. p. 3.
  10. ISBN 978-0942257700
    .
  11. ^ American Lawn Tennis. American Lawn Tennis Publishing Company. 1923.
  12. ^ "Hall of Famers - May Sutton Bundy". International Tennis Federation (ITF).
  13. St. Petersburg Times. October 7, 1975 – via Google News Archive
    .
  14. ISBN 978-1-4269-4514-4
    .

Additional sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to May Sutton.
  • Hult, Joan S.; Trekell, Marianna (1991). A Century of women's basketball : from frailty to final four. Reston, Va: National Association for Girls and Women in Sport.
    ISBN 9780883144909
    .

External links