Evelyn Dewhurst (née Maud Evelyn Ray Marshall; 12 January 1902 – 1993) was a

British Ceylon British Ceylon ( si, බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ලංකාව, Britānya Laṃkāva; ta, பிரித்தானிய இலங்கை, Biritthāṉiya Ilaṅkai) was the British Crown colony of present-day Sri Lanka between ...

ese

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. She competed at the

1926 Wimbledon Championships The 1926 Wimbledon Championships, also known as the ''Jubilee Championships'', took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament ran from 21 June until 3 Ju ...

, reaching the second round in singles and the third round in doubles. Her second-round loss to six-time Wimbledon singles champion

Suzanne Lenglen Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen (; 24 May 1899 – 4 July 1938) was a French tennis player. She was the inaugural world No. 1 from 1921 to 1926, winning eight Grand Slam titles in singles and twenty-one in total. She was also a four-time World ...

was a pivotal match in Lenglen's career that led to her retiring from amateur tennis to become a professional. After winning the Ceylonese national championship in 1927, Dewhurst herself retired from amateur tennis to join Lenglen on her short British professional tour. She signed for a low amount of 1000 pounds because she "desperately needed the money". Dewhurst played five more singles matches against Lenglen on the tour, losing all of them. She also partnered with

Karel Koželuh Karel Koželuh (; hu, Kozeluh Károly ; 7 March 1895 – 27 April 1950) was a Czech tennis, association football, and ice hockey player of the 1920s and 1930s. Koželuh became a European ice hockey champion in 1925 and was one of the top-ranked ...

Howard Kinsey Howard Oreon Kinsey (December 3, 1899 – July 26, 1966) was an American tennis player in the 1920s. He was originally from California. Playing record His most significant championships were the 1926 French National men's doubles championsh ...

to play against Lenglen and either Koželuh or Kinsey in mixed doubles, also losing all of her matches.

Personal life

Evelyn Dewhurst was born with the name Maud Evelyn Ray Marshall on 12 January 1902 to Maud (née Breffit) and Stewart Ray Marshall. She had a brother Stewart Ray Marshall. Evelyn married Godfrey Jefferson Dewhurst, who was an infantry soldier stationed in

. Her brother was married to her sister-in-law, Nancy Stevenson Dewhurst. Following her tennis playing career, Dewhurst published seven books on tennis from 1939 to 1972, a few of which have been reissued more recently since 2000. Dewhurst lived her later life in Teulada in Spain, moving there in 1956, and is considered the first international tourist to settle there.

References

Books

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dewhurst, Evelyn British female tennis players 1902 births 1993 deaths People from British Ceylon