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 Natalia Republic, Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three o ...
. 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 Ho ...
. In 1929, she was ranked no. 5 in the world. Her brother was the South African cricketer
Peter Heine.
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 at Surbiton, defeating ]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 Ho ...
; 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, she was defeated in the third round of the singles event in three sets by Phoebe Holcroft. 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) d ...
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 mi ...
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, emerging victorious from a closely fought three-sets final against Joan Ridley 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 in three sets. She and Alida Neave were runners-up in the doubles, losing the final to 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 ...
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 that year, she reached the singles quarterfinal, losing to world no. 1 and eventual champion 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) d ...
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. 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 Wimbledon, 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 Alice Marble 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 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 a ...
removed.[ In 1978, she emigrated to Australia, where her children were living, and celebrated her 100th birthday in Canberra 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