Deidre Catt (born 4 July 1940) is a former
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 from the United Kingdom who was active in the 1960s.
Her best performance at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the final of the doubles event at the
1960 U.S. Championships. Partnering compatriot
Ann Haydon they lost the final in straight sets 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 ...
and
Darlene Hard
Darlene Ruth Hard (January 6, 1936 – December 2, 2021) was an American professional tennis player, known for her aggressive volleying ability and strong serves. She captured singles titles at the French Championships in 1960 and the U.S. Champ ...
. Her best Grand Slam singles performance was reaching the semifinal of the
1963 U.S. Championships in which she lost to
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 ...
,
having beaten Billie-Jean Moffit King in the last 16. At the
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...
she reached the fourth round in 1962 and 1964.
Between 1961 and 1964, Catt played in four
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 ...
s, a women's team tennis competition between the United States and Great Britain. During the
1962 Wightman Cup she defeated
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 ...
. From 1963 to 1965, she was a member of the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
Federation Cup team and compiled a record of six wins and two losses.
In 1960 she won the
All England Plate, a tennis competition held at the
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...
for players who were defeated in the first or second rounds of the singles competition. In the final, she was victorious against
Lorna Cawthorn. In that year, she won the West of England championships at Bristol by beating
Sandra Reynolds
Sandra Reynolds Price (née Reynolds; born 4 March 1934) is a South African former tennis player who won four Grand Slam women's doubles championships and one Grand Slam mixed doubles championship. Her best Grand Slam singles result was reachin ...
in the second round and
Renée Schuurman in the final.
In 1961 and 1963, she won the singles title at the
Surrey Grass Court Championships in
Surbiton, defeating
Edda Buding
Edda Buding (13 November 1936 – 15 July 2014) was a German tennis player of Romanian birth. She received the doubles gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics doubles demonstration event partnered with Helga Niessen Masthoff. Along with Yola Ramí ...
and
Darlene Hard
Darlene Ruth Hard (January 6, 1936 – December 2, 2021) was an American professional tennis player, known for her aggressive volleying ability and strong serves. She captured singles titles at the French Championships in 1960 and the U.S. Champ ...
in the respective finals. Catt was a runner-up at the
British Hard Court Championships in 1961, losing the final to
Angela Mortimer
Florence Angela Margaret Mortimer Barrett, MBE (née Mortimer; born 21 April 1932) is a British former world No. 1 tennis player. Mortimer won three Grand Slam singles titles: the 1955 French Championships, the 1958 Australian Championships, ...
in straight sets. Catt became the singles champion at the 1963
British Covered Court Championships after three-set victories in the semifinal against Ann Jones and the final against
Renée Schuurman. Partnering
Elizabeth Starkie, she reached the doubles final of the 1963
Pacific Coast Championships
The Pacific Coast Championships was an annual men's tennis tournament. It was the second-oldest ongoing tennis tournament in the United States and ran from 1889 until 2013. Its final edition, known by its sponsored name SAP Open, was an ATP World ...
in which they were beaten by
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 ...
and
Darlene Hard
Darlene Ruth Hard (January 6, 1936 – December 2, 2021) was an American professional tennis player, known for her aggressive volleying ability and strong serves. She captured singles titles at the French Championships in 1960 and the U.S. Champ ...
.
In November 1964, she married John Keller. Later, she remarried Noel McMahon, an Australian.
Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 1 runner-up
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Catt, Deidre
1940 births
English female tennis players
Living people
British female tennis players
Place of birth missing (living people)