Jean Barbara Walker-Smith (née Bridger; 17 March 1924 – 23 February 2010) was a female

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 England who was active in the late 1940s and 1950s. She reached two

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

semifinals in the singles event and one in doubles, and she achieved a highest singles ranking of world no. 5 in 1951.

Early life

Walker-Smith was educated at

Roedean School Roedean School is an independent day and boarding school founded in 1885 in Roedean Village on the outskirts of Brighton, East Sussex, England, and governed by Royal Charter. It is for girls aged 11 to 18. The campus is situated near the Sus ...

, a girls boarding school in Brighton. During World War II, she worked in an armaments factory.

Career

Her best singles performances at a Grand Slam tournament came in 1951 when she reached the semifinals of 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 ...

and U.S. National Championships. At the French Championships, she was defeated by first-seeded

Doris Hart Doris Hart (June 20, 1925 – May 29, 2015) was an American tennis player from who was active in the 1940s and first half of the 1950s. She was ranked world No. 1 in 1951. She was the fourth player, and second woman, to win a Career Grand Slam in ...

, and at the U.S. Championships, as the top-seeded foreign player, she lost to second-seeded

Shirley Fry Shirley June Fry Irvin (née Fry; June 30, 1927 – July 13, 2021) was an American tennis player. During her career, which lasted from the early 1940s until the mid-1950s, she won the singles title at all four Grand Slam events, as well as 13 dou ...

. Walker-Smith participated in six

Wimbledon Championship 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 play ...

s between 1947 and 1952 and reached the singles quarterfinals of the

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

editions. During the same years she made it to the quarterfinals of the doubles event, partnering three different countrywomen. At the 1951 French Championship she teamed up with compatriot

Jean Quertier Jean Rinkel-Quertier (née Quertier; 12 November 1925 – 23 January 2019), was a female former tennis player from England who was active in the late 1940s and 1950s. Career Her best performance at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the final ...

and reached the doubles semifinal, losing in straight sets to the eventual champions

and

. With

, she won the doubles title at the Italian Championships in Rome in 1950, defeating Betty Hilton and

Kay Tuckey Katherine "Kay" Tuckey, also known by her married name Kay Maule, (1921/1922 – 14 May 2016) was an English female tennis player who was active from the second half of the 1940s until the early 1950s. Early life Tuckey was born in Godalming, ...

in the final in three sets. Walker-Smith won the

South of England Championships The South of England Championships, also known as the South of England Open Championships, was an outdoor tennis event held on grass courts at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in Eastbourne, United Kingdom from 1881 until 1972. History The ...

grass court tournament in Eastbourne four times; in 1948 and from 1950 until 1952. On all four occasions, she played the final against a compatriot and won in straight sets. She defeated

Anne-Marie Seghers Anne-Marie Lucienne Seghers (15 September 1911 – 17 January 2012) was a French tennis player . She reached the singles final at the 1941 French Championships in which she was defeated by Alice Weiwers in straight sets. As the final was played ...

in April 1950 to win the singles title at the Monte Carlo Championships. In April 1951, she was singles runner-up to Quertier on the clay courts of the Roehampton tournament and at the end of the month Walker-Smith participated in the

British Hard Court Championships The British Hard Court Championships is a defunct Grand Prix tennis and WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1968 to 1983 and 1995 to 1999. The inaugural edition of the tournament was held in 1924 in Torquay, moving to the West Hant ...

in Bournemouth where she was defeated in the final by

. She shared the singles title at the

Surrey Championships The Surrey Championships also known as the Surrey Grass Court Championships and the Surrey County Championships is a defunct tennis tournament played in Surbiton, Surrey, England on outdoor grass courts. It ran for 73 editions from 1890 to 1981 a ...

in 1948 with

Joan Curry Patricia Joan Curry Hughesman (December 1918 – August 2020) was a British squash and tennis player who won the British Open Squash Championships three times in a row from 1947 to 1949. Her toughest victory was in 1948, when she beat the 10-tim ...

, was a runner-up in 1949 and won the title in 1950, defeating Quertier in the final. At the 1951

British Covered Court Championships The British Covered Court Championships (BCCC) was an indoor tennis event held from 1885 through 1971 and played in London, England. The dates of the tournament fluctuated between October and March. History For its first five years the tournament ...

, played on wooden courts at the

Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship reas ...

, she was a runner-up to Susan Partridge. At the Irish Open in July 1952, she reached the final, losing in two sets to reigning U.S. and Wimbledon champion

Maureen Connolly Maureen Catherine Connolly-Brinker (née Connolly; September 17, 1934 – June 21, 1969), known as "Little Mo", was an American tennis player, the winner of nine major singles titles in the early 1950s. In 1953, she became the first woman to win ...

Between 1949 and 1952, Walker-Smith was a member of the British team that competed in 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 ...

. These editions were all won by the United States. She was the top-ranked British female player in 1951 and was ranked No. 5 in the world. In December 1952, Walker-Smith was named one of the leading tennis personalities of the year by the Lawn Tennis Writers' Association of Great Britain.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker-Smith, Jean 1924 births 2010 deaths English female tennis players People from Dulwich Sportspeople from the London Borough of Southwark British female tennis players Tennis people from Greater London