María Luisa Terán de Weiss (29 January 1918 – 8 December 1984), known in Argentina as Mary Terán de Weiss, and out of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

as María Teran Weiss, was a

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, the first Argentine woman to have a relevant sport performance in the international tennis tour.

Tennis career

She played between 1938 and 1959, and was considered a top 20 player, winning the Irish Open (1950), Israel International (1950), Cologne International (1951), Baden-Baden (1951) and Welsh International (1954), and several times the Rio de la Plata Championship. In 1948, she reached quarterfinals at the French Open and won the

All England Plate The All England Plate, also referred to as the Wimbledon Plate, was a tennis competition held at the Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is ...

, a tennis competition held 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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...

that consisted of players who were defeated in the first or second rounds of the singles competition. She also won two gold and bronze medals at the

1951 Pan American Games The 1951 Pan American Games (the I Pan American Games) were held in Buenos Aires, Argentina between February 25 and March 9, 1951. The Pan American Games' origins were at the Games of the X Olympiad in Los Angeles, United States, where official ...

.Lupo, Víctor F. (2004). ''Historia política del deporte argentino'', Buenos Aires: Corregidor, capítulo XXXIV.

Political persecution in Argentina

Mary Terán was persecuted by the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

, which came to power in 1955, because of her sympathy and identification with the

Peronist Movement Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of ...

, forcing her into exile in Spain and Uruguay and to retire from tennis at the end of the 1950s, and excluding her from all recognition by the press and sport organizations. Until the 1980s, Argentina's tennis was a sport for the upper classes. Mary Terán confronted the leaders of the Argentine Tennis Association, with the goal of promoting tennis among common people. In the early 1980s, she organized a campaign to support

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977, and won four Grand Slam tournaments, one year-end Masters, nine Grand Prix Super Se ...

and help to spread tennis in the country when the Argentine Tennis Association was campaigning against Vilas.

Death and legacy

After the return of democracy to Argentina at the end of 1983, she continued to be ignored by the media and the government. A few months later, she committed suicide by jumping from the seventh floor of a building in the city of Mar del Plata at the age of 66. In 2007, the City of Buenos Aires honoured her by naming the new tennis stadium of the city

Estadio Mary Terán de Weiss The Mary Terán de Weiss Stadium ( es, Estadio Mary Terán de Weiss), commonly known as Parque Roca due to its location within the limits of the Parque Polideportivo Roca, is a multipurpose stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located at Aven ...

.Ley 2502
, Boletín Oficial de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 06-12-2007

Personal life

She was married to fellow tennis player Heraldo Weiss. He died in 1952.

Sources

References

Books

*Lupo, Víctor F. (2004). ''Historia política del deporte argentino'', Buenos Aires: Corregidor, capítulo XXXIV

External links

*Búsico, Jorge (09-12-2004)
''Mary Terán de Weiss, la mujer y la memoria''
Clarín. (In Spanish) *Rodríguez, Tomás (08-12-2008)

El Litoral.(In Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Teran De Weiss, Mary 1918 births 1984 suicides Sportspeople from Rosario, Santa Fe Argentine female tennis players Pan American Games medalists in tennis Suicides by jumping in Argentina Argentine exiles Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina Tennis players at the 1951 Pan American Games Tennis players at the 1955 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1951 Pan American Games 1984 deaths