Carole Caldwell Graebner (née Caldwell; June 24, 1943 – November 19, 2008) was an American

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. According to

Lance Tingay Lance Tingay (15 July 1915 – 10 March 1990) was a British sports journalist, historian, and author of several tennis books. For many years his annual ranking of top tennis players was "the only one that counted" before ATP rankings were introduc ...

of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and the ''Daily Mail'', Graebner was ranked in the world top 10 in 1964 and 1965, reaching a career high of World No. 4 in these rankings in 1964. Graebner was included in the year-end top 10 rankings issued by the

United States Lawn Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

from 1961 through 1965 and in 1967. She was the third-ranked U.S. player in 1964 and 1965. She was ranked U.S. No. 1 in doubles in 1963.

Career summary

Graebner paired with

Nancy Richey Nancy Richey (born August 23, 1942) is an American former tennis player. Richey won two major singles titles (the 1967 Australian Championships and 1968 French Open) and four major women's doubles titles (the 1965 US Championships, 1966 Austral ...

to win doubles titles at the U.S. National Championships in 1965 (defeating

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States ...

and Karen Hantze Susman in the final) and the

Australian Championships The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

in 1966 (defeating

Margaret Court Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian retired former world No. 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, her 24 maj ...

and

Lesley Turner Bowrey Lesley Rosemary Turner Bowrey, AM (née Turner; born 16 August 1942) is a retired professional tennis player from Australia. Her career spanned two decades from the late 1950s until the late 1970s. Turner Bowrey won the singles title at the Fr ...

in the final). Graebner lost to

Maria Bueno Maria Esther Andion Bueno (11 October 1939 – 8 June 2018) was a Brazilian professional tennis player. During her 11-year career in the 1950s and 1960s, she won 19 Grand Slam titles (seven in women's singles, 11 in women's doubles, and one in m ...

in the singles final of the 1964 U.S. Championships. Graebner won the doubles title at the

U.S. Women's Clay Court Championships The U.S. Open Clay Courts, known formally as the U.S. Clay Court Championships, was a national tennis championship for women that was sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association. The first edition was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1912, ...

in 1964 and 1965. In the singles event, she was a runner-up in 1962 and 1964 to Donna Floyd and

respectively. In 1961 at the tournament in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Caldwell won the doubles title with Cathie Gagel and lost the singles final to Peachy Kellmeyer. Caldwell won the Pacific Southwest singles title in 1962 and 1965 and won a gold medal in doubles at the 1963

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

. Graebner was on the first U.S. Federation Cup team and attended California State University, Los Angeles. After her playing career ended, Graebner was a radio and television commentator and a vice president with ''Tennis Week'' magazine. She also served in sales and administration with Sports Investors, Inc. Graebner was the chair of the

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

Committee and vice chair of the

Wightman Cup The Wightman Cup was an annual team tennis competition for women contested from 1923 through 1989 (except during World War II) between teams from the United States and Great Britain. History U.S. player Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman wanted to generate ...

Committee.

Awards and honors

She was the recipient of the USTA Service Bowl Award in 1989 and the Sarah Palfrey Danzig Award in 1991. She was named Eastern Tennis Association Woman of the Year in 1989. In 1997, she was inducted into the ITA Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame.

Personal

Caldwell was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in Santa Monica, California. On July 11, 1964, she married American tennis star

Clark Graebner Clark Graebner (born November 4, 1943) is a retired American professional tennis player. Early life Graebner was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the only child of Paul Graebner, a doctor, and his wife, the former Janice Clark. Paul had been a moderat ...

. They had two children, a daughter Cameron and a son Clark. The couple separated in 1975 but never divorced. Graebner died of cancer in New York City on November 19, 2008, aged 65.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Doubles: 2 (2 titles)

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caldwell Graebner, Carole 1943 births 2008 deaths American female tennis players Australian Championships (tennis) champions Deaths from cancer in New York (state) California State University, Los Angeles alumni United States National champions (tennis) Tennis players from Santa Monica, California Tennis players from Pittsburgh Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Pan American Games medalists in tennis Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Tennis players at the 1963 Pan American Games 20th-century American women 21st-century American women Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games