Marion Patricia Law (née Johnston; 1 June 1940 – 25 November 2020) was a New Zealand
netball
Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...
and
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. As a netballer, she played two Tests for against in 1960. She won both the women's singles and women's doubles titles at the
National Lawn Tennis Championships of India in 1965.
Early life
Law was born Marion Patricia Johnston in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
on 1 June 1940, the daughter of Wesley Johnston and Hilda Mary Johnston (née Roberts) of
Miramar.
After leaving school, she found employment as a shorthand typist.
Sporting career
Netball
Johnston played netball for the Wellington East Old Girls' club, and was a Wellington provincial representative. Her preferred playing position was at wing defence, but she could also cover wing attack, goal defence and centre.
In 1960, Johnston was selected for the New Zealand team that toured Australia that year,
and played in two of the three Test matches.
Tennis
At the New Zealand national tennis championships in January 1959, played at
Wilding Park, Christchurch, Johnston reached the quarter-finals of the women's singles, where she was defeated 6–4, 6–4 by Betty Nelson.
The following month, Johnston lost to
Ruia Morrison 6–1, 6–2 in the quarter-finals of the Auckland international invitation tournament at
Stanley Street.
Later that year, Johnston was named as the top-ranked junior women's player in New Zealand.
In early January 1960, Johnston was defeated by Ruia Morrison, 6–3, 6–4, in the women's singles final at the North Island tennis championships in
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
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. The following week, at the national championships in Auckland, Johnston again lost to Morrison, this time in the semi-finals of the women's singles, 6–1, 6–4. In the final of the women's doubles, Johnston and her partner
Judy Davidson were beaten, 6–2, 6–4, by Ruia Morrison and
Heather Robson. Johnston was again beaten by Morrison the following month, in the women's singles semi-finals of the Auckland international invitiation tournament, going down 6–0, 6–1.
Playing with Margaret Smith, Johnston was also defeated in the final of the women's doubles, 6–3, 6–1, by Morrison and Judy Tinnock. In the New Zealand rankings released later that year, Johnston was listed as the fifth-ranked women's player.
In 1961. Ruia Morrison beat Johnston, 6–3, 6–2, in the North Island women's singles final. At the New Zealand national championships in Wellington, Johnston and her partner Judy Davidson defeated Morrison and Raewyn Ferkins, 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, in the final of the women's doubles. However, Johnston lost to Morrison, 6–1, 6–3, in the quarter-finals of the women's singles.
At the end of the 1960–61 season, Johnston's national ranking had gone up one place to fourth.
At the 1962 national tennis championships in Christchurch, Johnston lost in the quarter-finals of the women's singles to
Patsy Belton, 4–6, 6–2, 6–4. The following year, she reached the women's singles semi-finals at the New Zealand championships, before being defeated by Judy Davison, 3–6, 8–6, 6–1.
At the 1965
National Lawn Tennis Championships of India, played in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
, Law defeated Asian champion
Nirupama Vasant
Nirupama Mankad ('' née'' Vasant; born 17 January 1947) is a former Indian tennis player. She is the first Indian woman in the modern era to play at a main draw of a Grand Slam.
Nirupama Mankad is the daughter of G. Vasant, a leading tennis ...
, 6–4, 6–4, in the final of the women's singles. With her partner, Begum Khan, Law also won the women's doubles championship, defeating Nirupama Vasant and Leela Punjabi 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 in the final. The following year, at the Indian championships, Law beat American
Carol Prosen 6–0, 5–7, 6–1 in the somen's singles semi-finals, but was defeated by the Soviet player Tiiu Soome in the final, 6–2, 3–6, 6–4.
Later life
Johnston married diplomat Douglas Law in 1963, and they spent many years overseas on various diplomatic postings. Marion Law remained an active tennis player, winning the mixed doubles in the annual diplomatic tennis competition in Canberra in 1969, and finishing second in the women's singles at the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...
resident championships in 1972. After retiring, they returned to live permanently in Wellington.
Law maintained her involvement in tennis as a member of the International Lawn Tennis Club of New Zealand, and she was a member of the Victoria Bridge Club. Law died in the Wellington suburb of
Churton Park
Churton Park is an affluent suburb 1.5 km north of Johnsonville in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. It was established in the 1970s.
The suburb includes Churton Park Reserve which includes a recreational sports field, two prim ...
on 25 November 2020.
Her husband, Douglas, died in
Paraparaumu
Paraparaumu () is a town in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It lies on the Kapiti Coast, north of the nation's capital city, Wellington.
Like other towns in the area, it has a partner settlement at the coast called Paraparaumu Bea ...
on 2 July 2021.
References
External links
Livesteam of Marion Law's funeral service at Old St Paul's, Wellington
{{DEFAULTSORT:Law, Marion
1940 births
2020 deaths
Sportspeople from Wellington City
New Zealand international netball players
New Zealand netball players
New Zealand female tennis players
20th-century New Zealand women