Bobbie Heine-Miller (born Esther Laurie Heine; 5 December 1909 – 31 July 2016) was a South African tennis player. She was born in Greytown in the

Colony of Natal The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to ...

. As Bobbie Heine, she won the doubles title at the 1927 French Championships partnering

Irene Bowder Peacock Irene Evelyn Bowder Peacock (née Bowder; 27 July 1892 – 13 June 1978) was a South African tennis player. Bowder Peacock won the doubles title at the 1927 French Championships with Bobbie Heine Miller defeating Peggy Saunders and Phoebe Hol ...

. In 1929, she was ranked no. 5 in the world. Her brother was the South African cricketer

Peter Heine Peter Samuel Heine (28 June 1928 – 4 February 2005) was a South African cricketer who played in fourteen Test matches between 1955 and 1962. On his Test debut, he took five wickets in the first innings against England at Lord's in 1955. Life ...

Tennis career

Heine taught herself to play tennis by hitting the ball against the wall of her father's butcher shop in Winterton. She received the nickname "Bobbie" as a junior player when, at a tournament, a representative of the South African Tennis Union remarked that the round shape of her face resembled that of an English policeman. In 1925, she won the

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

singles championship at the age of 15. Heine made her first trip to Europe in 1927. In May, she won the

Surrey Championships The Surrey Championships also known as the Surrey Grass Court Championships and the Surrey County Championships is a defunct tennis tournament played in Surbiton, Surrey, England on outdoor grass courts. It ran for 73 editions from 1890 to 1981 a ...

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it has ...

, defeating

; together they won the doubles title. She again teamed up with compatriot Bowder Peacock to win the doubles title at the 1927

French Championships The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

, her first and only

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

title, defeating the British partnership of Peggy Saunders and

Phoebe Holcroft Watson Phoebe Catherine Holcroft Watson ( Holcroft; 7 October 1898 – 20 October 1980) was a tennis player from the United Kingdom whose best result in singles was reaching the final of the U.S. Championships in 1929, losing to Helen Wills in straigh ...

in two straight sets. At the same tournament, she achieved her best Grand Slam singles performance by reaching the semifinals, which she lost in three sets to eventual winner

Kea Bouman Cornelia "Kea" Tiedemann-Bouman (23 November 1903 – 17 November 1998) was a female tennis player from the Netherlands. She won the singles title at the 1927 French Championships, beating Irene Bowder Peacock of South Africa in the final. Bouma ...

. At the

1927 Wimbledon Championships The 1927 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was held from Monday 20 June until Saturday 2 July 1927. It was the 47th ...

, she was defeated in the third round of the singles event in three sets by

Phoebe Holcroft Phoebe Catherine Holcroft Watson ( Holcroft; 7 October 1898 – 20 October 1980) was a tennis player from the United Kingdom whose best result in singles was reaching the final of the U.S. Championships in 1929, losing to Helen Wills in straigh ...

. In doubles, she and Bowder Peacock reached the final, but lost to the American couple

Helen Wills Helen Newington Wills (October 6, 1905 – January 1, 1998), also known by her married names Helen Wills Moody and Helen Wills Roark, was an American tennis player. She won 31 Grand Slam tournament titles (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) du ...

and

Elizabeth Ryan Elizabeth Montague Ryan (February 5, 1892 – July 6, 1979) was an American tennis player who was born in Anaheim, California, but lived most of her adult life in the United Kingdom. Ryan won 26 Grand Slam titles, 19 in women's doubles and mix ...

in straight sets. In 1929, on her second European trip, Heine won the singles title at the Irish Open, defeating compatriot Billie Tapscott in three sets. In addition, she won the

British Hard Court Championships The British Hard Court Championships is a defunct Grand Prix tennis and WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1968 to 1983 and 1995 to 1999. The inaugural edition of the tournament was held in 1924 in Torquay, moving to the West Hant ...

, emerging victorious from a closely fought three-sets final against

Joan Ridley Joan Cowell O'Meara Ridley (11 July 1903 – 4 October 1983) was a female British tennis player who was active in the 1920s and 1930s. Ridley was a semifinalist at the 1931 Wimbledon Championships where she lost in straight sets to Helen Jacobs ...

that lasted two hours. At the 1929 French Championships, she was seeded second in the singles event and was beaten in the quarterfinal by

Cilly Aussem Cilly Aussem (; 4 January 1909 – 22 March 1963) was a German tennis player. She was the first German, male or female, to win the singles title at Wimbledon, which she did in 1931. She also won the women's single titles at the French Champion ...

in three sets. She and

Alida Neave Alida Neave is a former South African tennis player. Neave reached the doubles final at the 1929 French Championships with compatriot Bobbie Heine Miller but were defeated in the final by Lili de Alvarez and Kea Bouman Cornelia "Kea" Tiedem ...

were runners-up in the doubles, losing the final to

and

Lilí Álvarez Elia Maria González-Álvarez y López-Chicheri, also known as Lilí Álvarez (; 9 May 1905 – 8 July 1998), was a Spanish multi-sport competitor, an international tennis champion, an author, feminist and a journalist. Life She was born at the ...

in straight sets. At

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

that year, she reached the singles quarterfinal, losing to world no. 1 and eventual champion

in two sets. She missed the

1930 Wimbledon Championships The 1930 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was scheduled to run from Monday 23 June until Saturday 5 July 1930 but t ...

due to a scheduling disagreement with the South African Lawn Tennis Union. In mid-1938, she toured Europe for the third and final time, captaining the South African women team. In June, she lost the final of the Weybridge tournament in straight sets to

Alice Marble Alice Marble (September 28, 1913 – December 13, 1990) was an American tennis player who won 18 Grand Slam championships between 1936 and 1940: five in singles, six in women's doubles, and seven in mixed doubles. She was ranked world No. 1 in 193 ...

. She won the singles and doubles titles at the Dutch Championships in July, defeating Nancye Wynne in the singles final in two sets. Heine did not participate in the French Championships and lost in the fourth round of singles at

, again to Wills, in a closely fought two-set match. In doubles, she teamed up with countrywoman Margaret Morphew to reach the semifinal, where eventual champions Sarah Fabyan and

prevailed in two sets. Heine (Miller) won the South African Championships singles title on five occasions (1928, 1931, 1932, 1936 and 1937). Additionally, she won six doubles titles (1930, 1931, 1937, 1938, 1939 and 1947) and five mixed doubles titles (1930, 1936, 1937, 1938 and 1939). A final scheduled visit to Wimbledon in 1947 ended prematurely when her plane crashed in Egypt. All passengers survived and Heine-Miller sustained only minor leg injuries, but her tennis gear was largely lost.

Personal life

On 6 April 1931, she married farmer Harry Miller (and took the surname Heine-Miller) in

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

and the couple had a son Des Miller and a daughter Valerie Miller (později Valerie Staňek). Her husband died at the end of World War II in northern Africa during a routine operation to have his

tonsils The tonsils are a set of lymphoid organs facing into the aerodigestive tract, which is known as Waldeyer's tonsillar ring and consists of the adenoid tonsil, two tubal tonsils, two palatine tonsils, and the lingual tonsils. These organs play an ...

removed. In 1978, she emigrated to Australia, where her children were living, and celebrated her 100th birthday in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

in 2009. In 2016, at age 106, she was one of Canberra's oldest citizens. Miller died on 31 July 2016 at the age of 106.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles (1 title, 2 runners-up)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heine Miller, Bobbie 1909 births 2016 deaths South African centenarians South African female tennis players Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles South African emigrants to Australia Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents South African people of Afrikaner descent Sportspeople from Canberra Women centenarians French Championships (tennis) champions