Jenny Staley Hoad (born 3 March 1934) is an Australian former tennis player who was mainly active in the 1950s.

Career

In 1953 she won the junior singles title at the Australian Championships. As Jenny Staley she reached the singles final of 1954 Australian Championships, played in Sydney, but lost in straight sets to

Thelma Coyne Long Thelma Dorothy Coyne Long (née Coyne; 14 October 1918 – 13 April 2015) was an Australian tennis player and one of the female players who dominated Australian tennis from the mid-1930s to the 1950s. During her career she won 19 Grand Sl ...

. In November 1954 she reached the final of the New South Wales Championships which she lost in three sets to

Beryl Penrose Beryl Penrose (22 December 1930 – 20 June 2021) was an Australian international tennis player. She competed in the Australian Open eight times, from 1950 to 1957. Penrose won the singles title in 1955 defeating compatriot Thelma Coyne Long i ...

. In December 1954 she was runner-up to Coyne Long at the Victorian Championships played in Kooyong. Staley won the singles title at the South Australian Championships at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in January 1955 defeating

Fay Muller Fay Muller (born 4 November 1933) is a former international tennis player from Australia. She competed in the Australian Championships nine times, from 1952 to 1963. At the 1956 Wimbledon Championships she partnered with Daphne Seeney to reach ...

in the final in straight sets. At the 1955 Australian Championships she partnered her then boyfriend

Lew Hoad Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur (the Australian Championships, French Championships and two Wimbledon ...

in the mixed event and were runners-up to Thelma Coyne Long and George Worthington. Her best singles performance 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 ...

was reaching the fourth round in 1955, losing to eight-seeded Angela Buxton, and 1956 when she was defeated by fifth-seeded and eventual champion

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 ...

Personal life

proposed to Staley on her 21st birthday party in March 1955, and they planned to announce their engagement in June in London while both were on an overseas tour. After arriving in London Staley discovered that she was pregnant, and the couple decided to get married straight away. The marriage took place the following day on 18 June 1955 at

St Mary's Church, Wimbledon St Mary's Church, Wimbledon, is a Church of England church and is part of the Parish of Wimbledon, south-west London, England. It has existed since the 12th century and may be the church recorded in the Domesday Book in the Mortlake Hundred. It ...

in London on the eve of Wimbledon. They had two daughters and a son. After Hoad's retirement they moved to Fuengirola, Spain, near Málaga, where they constructed and operated the tennis resort Lew Hoad's Campo de Tenis for more than 30 years, entertaining personal friends actors that included Stewart Granger, Sean Connery,

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

, Peter Ustinov, Deborah Kerr and her husband

Peter Viertel Peter Viertel (16 November 1920 – 4 November 2007) was an author and screenwriter. Biography Viertel was born to Jewish parents in Dresden, Germany, the writer and actress Salka Viertel and the writer Berthold Viertel. In 1928, his parents mov ...

, Kirk Douglas, singer Frank Sinatra and saxophonist Stan Getz. Lew Hoad was diagnosed with a rare and incurable form of leukemia on 13 January 1994, which caused his death on 3 July 1994, at the age of 59. Jenny Hoad sold the club in April 1999 but has continued to live at the accompanying residential complex. In 2002, she published ''My Life with Lew'' with

Jack Pollard Jack Ernest Pollard OAM (31 July 1926 – 25 May 2002) was an Australian sports journalist, writer and cricket historian. Early life Born in Sydney on 31 July 1926, Pollard began his journalism career in 1943 as a copy boy at Sydney's ''Daily ...

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: (1 runner-up)

Mixed doubles: (2 runner-ups)

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Singles

References

;Sources *

External links

*
Lew Hoad Tennis and Paddle Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Staley Hoad, Jenny 1934 births Living people Australian female tennis players Tennis players from Melbourne Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles Australian Championships (tennis) junior champions Sportswomen from Victoria (state)