Joyce Williams (née Barclay; born 22 July 1944) is a retired tennis player from Scotland who was active in the 1960s and 1970s.

Career

Her best singles performance at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the quarterfinals at the 1971 US Open. She beat compatriot

Winnie Shaw Winifred Mason Shaw (later Mrs. Wooldridge) (18 January 1947 – 30 March 1992) was a professional tennis player from Scotland whose career ran from the mid-1960s until the early 70s. In 2002, she posthumously was inducted into the Scottish Sp ...

in the second round and eighth-seeded

Julie Heldman Julie Heldman (born December 8, 1945) is an American tennis player who won 22 singles titles. In 1969 and 1974, she was ranked as the world No. 5. In 1968 and 1969, she was ranked No. 2 in the U.S. She was Canadian National 18 and Under Singles ...

in the third to reach the quarterfinal, which she lost in straight sets to second-seeded

Rosie Casals Rosemary "Rosie" Casals (born September 16, 1948) is an American former professional tennis player. Casals earned her reputation as a rebel in the tennis world when she began competing in the early 1960s. During a tennis career that spanned mor ...

. At

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

she reached the fourth round in singles in 1965 and 1968 in which she was beaten in two sets by fourth-seeded

Nancy Richey Nancy Richey (born August 23, 1942) is an American former tennis player. Richey won two major singles titles (the 1967 Australian Championships and 1968 French Open) and four major women's doubles titles (the 1965 US Championships, 1966 Austral ...

and eighth-seeded

Lesley 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 ...

respectively. At 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 ...

, she reached the third round in 1963. In the Grand Slam doubles competition, Williams made it to the semifinals on three occasions: at the U.S. Championships in 1967 with Winnie Shaw and in 1968 with

Virginia Wade Sarah Virginia Wade (born 10 July 1945) is a British former professional tennis player. She won three Major tennis singles championships and four major doubles championships, and is the only British woman in history to have won titles at all f ...

and at Wimbledon she reached the semifinals in 1972, partnering Shaw, in which they were defeated in three sets by eventual champions

Billie-Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States ...

and

Betty Stöve Betty Flippina Stöve (born 24 June 1945) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. She is best remembered for reaching the ladies' singles final, the ladies' doubles final and the mixed doubles final during the same year at Wimbledon in 19 ...

. She played her first tournament in June 1959 at the Scottish Midlands Championships in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, she then won her first title in July that year at the Carnoustie Open in

Carnoustie Carnoustie (; sco, Carnoustie, gd, Càrn Ùstaidh) is a town and former police burgh in the council area of Angus, Scotland. It is at the mouth of the Barry Burn on the North Sea coast. In the 2011 census, Carnoustie had a population of 11,3 ...

. Williams won nine singles titles at the Scottish Championships and shared the title with Corinne Molesworth in 1972. In addition, she won the German Indoor Championships in 1968, defeating

Helga Niessen Helga Niessen Masthoff (née Niessen; born 11 November 1941) is a retired tennis player from West Germany. Her best Grand Slam singles tournament was when she reached the 1970 French Open final, losing to Margaret Court in straight sets. She wo ...

in the final, and the

Scandinavian Indoor Championships The Scandinavian Indoor Championships also known as the Scandinavian Covered Court Championships and the Scandinavian Indoor Open was a combined men's and women's tennis tournament held from 1936 through 1979. History The tournament was created ...

title in 1970. She won her final singles title at the Highland Championships at

Pitlochry Pitlochry (; gd, Baile Chloichridh or ) is a town in the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. It is historically in the county of Perthshire, and has a population of 2,776, according to the 2011 census.Scotla ...

in 1975. In 1979 she played her final tournament at the Scottish National Championships in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Williams 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 ...

, a women's team tennis competition between the United States and Great Britain, in 1967, 1970, 1971 and 1972. She was also a member of the British Federation Cup team, playing a total of nine ties in 1969, 1970, 1972 and 1973 and compiling a 6–5 win–loss record. During her career, Williams had wins over

Margaret Court Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian retired former world No. 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, her 24 maj ...

Evonne Goolagong Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley (née Goolagong; born 31 July 1951) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. At the age of 19, she won the French Open singl ...

, Wade,

Ann Haydon-Jones Ann Shirley Jones, (née Adrianne Haydon on 17 October 1938, also known as Ann Haydon-Jones) is a British former table tennis and lawn tennis champion. She won eight Grand Slam tennis championships in her career: three in singles, three in wome ...

, and

Judy Dalton Judy Tegart Dalton (née Tegart; born 12 December 1937) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She won nine major doubles titles, and completed the career Grand Slam in women's doubles. Five of her doubles titles were with Marga ...

. After her retirement as a player in 1976, she became a tennis coach and BBC radio commentator.

Personal life

She married BBC tennis correspondent Gerald Williams in 1964 but later divorced. In all, she married five times.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Joyce 1944 births Scottish female tennis players Living people Sportspeople from Dundee British female tennis players