Dorothy 'Dot' Stevenson was an Australian

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 who was active in the 1930s.

Career

Partnering compatriot Don Turnbull she reached the final of the mixed event at the 1937 Australian Championships which they lost in three sets to the husband and wife team of

Nell Hall Hopman Eleanor "Nell" Mary Hall Hopman, CBE (née Hall; 9 March 1909 – 10 January 1968) was one of the female tennis players that dominated Australian tennis from 1930 through the early 1960s. She was the first wife of Harry Hopman, the coach and ca ...

and

Harry Hopman Henry Christian Hopman Order of the British Empire, CBE (12 August 1906 – 27 December 1985) was an Australian tennis player and coach. Early life Harry Hopman was born on 12 August 1906 in Glebe, New South Wales, Glebe, Sydney as the third c ...

. In 1938 she was runner-up in the singles event of the

Australian Championship The National Second Division (NSD) – also referred to under the working title The Championship – is a proposed Australian national second-tier men's, soccer league, to be run by Football Australia and the Association of Australian Football Cl ...

, losing the final in straight sets to

Dorothy Cheney Dorothy "Dodo" May Sutton Bundy Cheney (September 1, 1916 – November 23, 2014) was an American tennis player from her youth into her 90s. In 1938, Bundy was the first American to win the women's singles title at the Australian National Champi ...

. In the semifinal she had defeated second-seeded and reigning champion Nancye Wynne. Owing to this result she was selected as a member of the Australian women's team that toured overseas in 1938. During the tour she competed in the

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 ...

where she reached the quarterfinal of the singles event where first-seed and eventual champions

Simonne Mathieu Simonne Mathieu ( Passemard; (Spelled "Simone" in many sources.) 31 January 1908 – 7 January 1980) was a female tennis player from France, born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine who was active in the 1930s. During World War II, she creat ...

proved too strong. 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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...

she lost in the first round of the singles event in three sets to third-seeded

Jadwiga Jędrzejowska Jadwiga "Jed" Jędrzejowska (; 15 October 1912 – 28 February 1980) was a Polish tennis player who had her main achievements during the second half of the 1930s. Because her name was difficult to pronounce for many people who did not speak Polis ...

. Partnering Nell Hopman she lost in the third round of the doubles competition against the first seeded team of

and

Billie Yorke Adeline 'Billie' Yorke (19 December 1910 – 9 December 2000) was a British tennis player of the 1930s who achieved her best results as a doubles specialist. At the French Open, she won the women's doubles three years running, along with Simon ...

Personal life

Dorothy was the younger daughter of Ruth and Ernest A. Stevenson (died 9 April 1942) of "Mayfield", Langham Place, Upper Hawthorn, Victoria She married John Victor Waddell in Melbourne on 1 February 1940. Her sister Gwyndoline "Gwen" (1908–1950) was also a tennis player. While she was in England on her 1938 overseas tour her brother Ernest died in Melbourne of pneumonia.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 runner-up)

Mixed doubles (1 runner-up)

References

Year of birth missing Australian female tennis players Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Tennis players from Melbourne Possibly living people 20th-century Australian women {{Australia-tennis-bio-stub