May Godfrey Sutton (September 25, 1886 – October 4, 1975) was an American

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 who was active during the first decades of the 20th century. At age 16 she won the singles title at the U.S. National Championships and in 1905 she became the first American player to win the singles title 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 * ...

Biography

May Sutton was born on September 25, 1886 in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, England, the youngest of seven children of Adolphus DeGrouchy Sutton, a captain in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and Adeline Esther Godfray. When she was six years old, Sutton's family moved to a ranch near Pasadena, California. It was there that she and her sisters played tennis on a court built by her father. As young ladies, May and her sisters,

Violet Violet may refer to: Common meanings * Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue * One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly: ** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants Places United States * Viol ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, and

Ethel Ethel (also '' æthel'') is an Old English word meaning "noble", today often used as a feminine given name. Etymology and historic usage The word means ''æthel'' "noble". It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names, b ...

, dominated the California tennis circuit. In addition to being accomplished tennis players, the girls were excellent basketball players. May, Florence and Violet were all on the Pasadena High School basketball team, which went undefeated in 1900. In 1904 at age 16 years and 9 months, May Sutton won the singles title at the U.S. Championships on her first attempt and became the youngest US champion in history. She also teamed with

Miriam Hall Miriam Hall (November 17, 1877 - June 18, 1954), was an American tennis player of the start of the 20th century. She was the first woman player from San Francisco to draw national attention when she lost the 1903 U.S. Women's National Championship ...

to win the women's doubles title and came close to making it a clean sweep by advancing to the mixed doubles final. She was unable to defend her U.S. title as she traveled to England in May 1905 to compete in 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 ...

. In June, she won the grass court

Northern Championships Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

in Manchester, defeating

Hilda Lane Hilda Lane (1877 – 17 December 1916) was an English tennis player active during the first decade and a half of the 20th century. Career Between 1902 and 1914 she participated in the single event of the Wimbledon Championships and achieved her ...

in the final. Sutton became the first American and first non-British woman to win the Wimbledon singles title when she beat British star and reigning two-time Wimbledon champion

Dorothea Douglass Chambers Dorothea Lambert Chambers (née Dorothea Katherine Douglass, 3 September 1878 – 7 January 1960) was a British tennis player. She won seven Wimbledon women's singles titles and a gold medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Tennis In 1900, Douglass ...

in the challenge round. She did it while shocking the British audience by rolling up her sleeves to bare her elbows and wearing a skirt that showed her ankles. For the next two years, she and Chambers met in the final, with Chambers recapturing the title in 1906 and Sutton winning it back in 1907. Sutton was the 1908 Rose Parade Queen in Pasadena. On December 11, 1912, she married

Tom Bundy Thomas Clark Bundy (October 8, 1881 – October 13, 1945) was a tennis player from Los Angeles, California, who was active in the early 20th century. With Maurice McLoughlin, he won three doubles titles at the U.S. National Championships. Bundy D ...

, who was a three-time winner of the men's doubles title at the U.S. Championships, and semi-retired to raise a family. However, in 1921 at the age of 35, she made a comeback and became the fourth-ranked player in the U.S. In 1925, she was a women's doubles finalist at the U.S. Championships and, although almost forty years of age, her game was strong enough to be selected for America's

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 ...

team. In 1922 and 1923, she won the women's singles in the

Ojai Tennis Tournament The Ojai Tennis Tournament, often shortened to The Ojai, is an annual tennis tournament in Ventura County, California, headquartered at Libbey Park in downtown Ojai, about north of Los Angeles. The event, first held in 1896, is the oldest and la ...

. She was a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 1929 at the age of 42, which was the first time she had played Wimbledon since 1907. In 1928 and 1929, she and her daughter

Dorothy Cheney Dorothy "Dodo" May Sutton Bundy Cheney (September 1, 1916 – November 23, 2014) was an American tennis player from her youth into her 90s. In 1938, Bundy was the first American to win the women's singles title at the Australian National Champi ...

became the only mother/daughter combination to be seeded at the U.S. Championships. Her nephew,

John Doeg John Thomas Godfray Hope Doeg (December 7, 1908 – April 27, 1978) was a male tennis player from the United States. In August 1929 Doeg won the singles title at the Seabright Invitational defeating Richard Norris Williams in three straight sets. ...

, won the U.S. Championships in 1930, and in 1938, daughter Dorothy won the

Australian Championships The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

. In 1956, Sutton 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 ...

. She never stopped playing tennis and was playing regularly well into her late 80s. Sutton died of cancer on October 4, 1975, in Santa Monica, California and was interred in the local

Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery Woodlawn Cemetery, Mausoleum & Mortuary, formerly Ballona Cemetery, is located at 1847 14th Street, alongside Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California, United States. The cemetery is owned and operated by the city of Santa Monica. The cemetery ...

Playing style

Eight-time U.S. National Championship winner

Molla Bjurstedt Mallory Anna Margrethe "Molla" Bjurstedt Mallory (née Bjurstedt; 6 March 1884 – 22 November 1959) was a Norwegian tennis player, naturalized American. She won a record eight singles titles at the U.S. National Championships. She was the first woman ...

indicated that Sutton was the best player she had met. "Her drive was the fastest and the...most difficult...to handle, because it dove suddenly to the ground and then jumped up unexpectedly with queer curves. When she could keep her drives near the baseline, they either forced me back farther than I had been accustomed to play or compelled me to make errors. She was also strong overhead when she came to the net and altogether had more power and effectiveness than any other woman tennis player of her time". Sutton played with an extreme Western grip and had a powerful topspin forehand that made the ball dip and bound high.

Grand Slam finals

Singles : 3 titles, 1 runner-up

Doubles : 1 title, 1 runner-up

Mixed doubles : 1 runner-up

References

Additional sources

External links

*
Grave spotlight
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, May 1886 births 1975 deaths American female tennis players English emigrants to the United States Sportspeople from Pasadena, California Sportspeople from Plymouth, Devon International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Tennis people from California United States National champions (tennis) Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era) Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Burials at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Santa Monica