Gail Chanfreau (née Sherriff; born 3 April 1945), also known as Gail Lovera and Gail Benedetti, is a French former amateur and professional
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.
Tennis career
Chanfreau was born in Australia, but moved to France in 1968. Chanfreau made her first appearance in the Federation Cup for
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in
1966
Events January
* January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.
* January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
. She played for
France Fed Cup team
The France women's national tennis team represents France in international women's tennis and is directed by the Fédération Française de Tennis. The team played in the first ever tournament in 1963, and is one of four teams that has taken par ...
from 1969 to 1980.
When Gail beat her sister
Carol Sherriff
Carol Sherriff (born 20 October 1946) is an Australian former professional tennis player.
Sherriff, a right-handed player from Sydney, is a daughter of tennis coach Ross Sherriff and younger sister of Gail Sherriff, better known as Gail Chanfre ...
, who reached the third round of the Australian Open on five occasions, 8–10, 6–3, 6–3 in the
1966 Wimbledon Championships
The 1966 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 held from Monday 20 June until Saturday 2 July 1966. It was the 80th ...
second round, that was the second match between sisters at Wimbledon, the first being in the
1884 Wimbledon Championships
The 1884 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament ran from 5 July until 19 July.2010 Wimbledon Compendium, by Alan Little (The All Engla ...
when
Maud Watson
Maud Edith Eleanor Watson, MBE (9 October 1864 – 5 June 1946) was a British tennis player and the first female Wimbledon champion.
Biography
Born in Harrow, Middlesex, the daughter of a local vicar Henry William and Emily Frances Watson. Sh ...
beat Lillian. The next Wimbledon match between sisters was in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...
.
Chanfreau reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in 1967 and 1972, and the quarterfinals of the French Open in 1968 and 1971. She won the French Open doubles in 1967, 1970 and 1971 with
Françoise Dürr
Françoise Dürr (born 25 December 1942; sometimes referred to by English writers as Frankie Durr) is a retired French tennis player. She won 50 singles titles and over 60 doubles titles.
According to Lance Tingay, Bud Collins, and the Women' ...
and 1976 with
Fiorella Bonicelli
Fiorella Bonicelli (born 21 December 1951) is a retired professional tennis player from Uruguay. She was born in Lima, Peru but grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay where she started playing tennis when at age 11. During her career, she won the 197 ...
.
At the
Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Masters or Cincinnati Open (branded as the Western & Southern Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual outdoor hardcourt tennis event held in Mason, Ohio near Cincinnati. The event started on September 18, 1899, and is the olde ...
, she reached the singles final in 1969, only to fall to future International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee
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 ...
, 1–6, 7–5, 10–10 ret.
She was international veterans mixed-doubles champion in 1968 and 1975 with
Pierre Darmon
Pierre Darmon (born 14 January 1934) is a French former tennis player. He was ranked No.8 in the world in 1963, and also reached the top ten in 1958 and 1964.
Early life
Darmon was born in Tunis, Tunisia. He moved to France at 17 years of age.
...
.
Personal life
She married French tennis player
Jean-Baptiste Chanfreau
Jean-Baptiste Chanfreau (born 17 January 1947) is a French international tennis player. He competed in the Australian Open in 1969 and in the Davis Cup a number of times, from 1970 to 1973.Jean Lovera.