Mary Kendall Browne (June 3, 1891 – August 19, 1971) was an American 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 and an amateur
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
er. She was born in
Ventura County, California
Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura.
Ventura County comprises the Oxn ...
.
Biography
According to
A. Wallis Myers of
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
and the
Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
, Browne was ranked in the world top 10 in 1921 (when the rankings began), 1924, and 1926, reaching a career high of world no. 3 in those rankings in 1921. Browne was included in the year-end top 10 rankings issued by the
United States Lawn Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...
in 1913 (when the rankings began), 1914, 1921, 1924, and 1925. She was the top-ranked U.S. player in 1914. She also played golf and was runner-up at the 1924
U.S. Women's Amateur to champion
Dorothy Campbell Hurd. She took part in the
1925
Events January
* January 1
** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria.
* January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...
and
1926 editions of 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 ...
, an annual women's team tennis competition between the United States and Great Britain.
Afterwards, she became a coach at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, where she is credited with inventing the
backboard for use in practice. She later transferred to the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
and then
Lake Erie College
Lake Erie College is a private liberal arts college in Painesville, Ohio. Founded in 1856 as a female seminary, the college converted to a coeducational institution in 1985. As of the 2016–2017 academic year, the total enrollment was 1,177 stud ...
.
Browne was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...
in 1957.
Grand Slam finals
Singles (3 titles, 2 runners-up)
Doubles (6 titles, 1 runner-up)
Mixed Doubles (4 titles, 1 runner-up)
Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
1Through 1923, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. The World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussels, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from that tournament are shown here from 1912 through 1914 and from 1920 through 1923. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.
See also
*
Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final
References
External links
USGA website for the 1924 Championship*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Mary
Amateur golfers
American female tennis players
American female golfers
American tennis coaches
Golfers from California
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles
International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees
People from Ventura County, California
Professional tennis players before the Open Era
Tennis people from California
United States National champions (tennis)
Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era)
1891 births
1971 deaths
20th-century American women