Anita Lizana de Ellis (19 November 1915 – 21 August 1994) was a world No. 1

tennis player 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 cove ...

from

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. She was the first

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n, and first

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person, to be ranked World Number 1 tennis player. Also, Lizana was the first Latin American to win a Grand Slam singles championship. She won the U.S. Championships singles title in 1937, defeating

Jadwiga Jędrzejowska Jadwiga "Jed" Jędrzejowska (; 15 October 1912 – 28 February 1980) was a Polish tennis player who had her main achievements during the second half of the 1930s. Because her name was difficult to pronounce for many people who did not speak Polis ...

in the final in straight sets.

Career

In the singles event of the 1937 U.S. Championships Lizana defeated three seeded players without losing a set to reach the final where she beat

, also in straight sets. 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 Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...

she reached the singles quarterfinals in 1936 and 1937. In 1936 she lost to second-seeded and eventual champion Helen Jacobs while in 1937 sixth-seeded Simonne Mathieu proved too strong. She won the Scottish Championships four times (1935–37, 46). In 1936 Lizana won the singles titles at the British Covered Court Championships, played on wood courts at the Queen's Club in London, and the South of England Championships in Eastbourne where she defeated

Dorothy Round Dorothy Edith Round (13 July 1909 – 12 November 1982), was a British tennis player who was active from the late 1920s until 1950. She achieved her major successes in the 1930s. She won the singles title at Wimbledon in 1934 and 1937, and the ...

in the final in straight sets. That year she was a runner-up to Kay Stammers at the British Hard Court Championships but in 1937 she won the title after a victory in the final against Peggy Scriven. The same year she won the Riviera Championships at

Menton Menton (; , written ''Menton'' in classical norm or ''Mentan'' in Mistralian norm; it, Mentone ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border. Me ...

, France, the

Pacific Coast Championships The Pacific Coast Championships was an annual men's tennis tournament. It was the second-oldest ongoing tennis tournament in the United States and ran from 1889 until 2013. Its final edition, known by its sponsored name SAP Open, was an ATP World ...

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, and the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth. 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 f ...

'' and the '' Daily Mail'', she was ranked in the world top ten in 1936 and 1937 reaching a career high of world No. 1 in 1937. After her marriage she limited her playing to some British tournaments. World War II and the birth of her children effectively ended her career as a top player. She did play some tournaments in 1946 and won the Scottish Championships in Edinburgh in July and the Scottish Hard Court Championships held at St. Andrews in August. At Wimbledon she reached second round in the singles event.

Personal life

In Santiago she lived in a house within the boundaries of the Quinta Normal Park. In July 1938, at the

Brompton Oratory Brompton Oratory is a large neo-classical Roman Catholic church in the Knightsbridge area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. Its full name is the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, or as named in its Grade II* archite ...

in London, she married Scottish coal merchant and tennis player Ronald Taylor Ellis (d. 1978) and the couple settled in Dundee. They had three daughters. Lizana died of stomach cancer on 21 August 1994. In 2015 the main court of the national tennis stadium in Santiago was named "Court Central Anita Lizana" in her honor.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

R = restricted to French nationals and held under

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

. ¹In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.

Notes

References

External links

* (Spanish site: her basic biography) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lizana, Anita 1915 births 1994 deaths Chilean female tennis players Tennis players from Santiago United States National champions (tennis) Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles People associated with Dundee World number 1 ranked female tennis players Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from stomach cancer 20th-century Chilean women