Background
Molla Mallory was born on March 6, 1884, in Norway, the daughter of a retired army officer.
Molla Mallory was born on March 6, 1884, in Norway, the daughter of a retired army officer.
Mallory began playing tennis with her sister Valborg at an early age in Norway and in 1903 entered international competition in Sweden, England, and Germany. Excelling at the game, by 1913, Mallory had captured the Norwegian women's singles title eight times and held the doubles championship with her sister.
Mallory was selected to represent her country in the 1912 Olympic Games at Stockholm. In October 1914, Mallory visited the United States and decided to settle in New York City, where she hoped to practice her profession as a masseuse. However, upon hearing of the upcoming women's national indoor singles tennis championship to be held in New York the following March, she promptly added her name to the list of competitors.
After her victories in 1915, Mallory continued to lead women's tennis for the next eleven years. During the war, with Mary Browne and several male players, she played exhibition matches throughout the United States and netted $85, 000 for the ambulance service.
Playing under her married name, she only placed in the semifinals of the national outdoor singles championship and dropped to third place in the national rankings. Mallory's decline was short-lived. The following year she regained her national outdoor singles title and her number-one ranking.
After losing to Lenglen in several previous international matches, Mallory met her at Forest Hills for their first United States match. Mallory promptly won the first set 6-2, which sent the foreign star off the court coughing and weeping, and defaulting the match. In 1923, Mallory and Tilden successfully defended their doubles title and she was selected for a spot on the U. S. Wightman Cup team.
Mallory did not win the national title from 1923 through 1925, primarily as a result of the sterling play of Helen Wills, later Mrs. Helen W. Moody. With Wills out of the 1926 competition with appendicitis, Mallory defeated Elizabeth Ryan 4-6, 6-4, 9-7, to regain the national outdoor singles title and the number-one United States ranking. She was a quarter-finalist and semifinalist in 1927 and 1928 and, on account of cartilage damage in her knee, ended her active tennis competition in 1929.
After the death of her husband in 1934, Mallory worked as a salesgirl in a department store in New York City. Fluent in French, German, English, and the Scandinavian languages, she served as a language specialist with the United States Office of Censorship during World War II.
Mallory died on March 6, 1884 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Mallory won a record eight singles titles at the U. S. Championships. In the 1912, Olympic Games at Stockholm she won the bronze medal. She won the tournament In New York in 1914, by defeating three-time champion Marie Wagner. Mallory went on to have a stunning first year of competition by winning the women's metropolitan championship, the Middle States championship, and both the national outdoor and national clay court singles titles. In the latter two championships, Mallory defeated Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, one of the most celebrated American players. By the end of 1915, her first year of competition, Mallory held five major women's titles and was ranked number one by the United States Lawn Tennis Association. Mallory's fame spread rapidly, and she soon became the recognized spokesman for women's tennis. In 1916, she again won the national outdoor and indoor singles tournaments and also the national outdoor doubles with Eleanora Sears and the national indoor doubles with Marie Wagner. She again was ranked the number one female player in the United States. World War I disrupted some competition in 1917, but Mallory won the Patriotic Tournament, which had been substituted for the national outdoor singles championship; successfully defended her national outdoor doubles championship with Eleanora Sears; and teamed with Irving C. Wright to win her first national outdoor mixed doubles title. The next year, Mallory again won both the national outdoor and indoor singles championships and remained the number-one ranked woman. She went on to win both the national outdoor and indoor singles championships in 1921 and 1922; and paired with the leading male player, William T. ("Big Bill") Tilden, II, captured the national outdoor mixed doubles title the following year. Mallory's defeat of France's Suzanne Lenglen, the reigning Wimbledon champion, in the national outdoor singles championship in 1921 was probably her greatest victory. Overall, Mallory won seven national outdoor singles titles, five national indoor singles titles, two national outdoor doubles titles, one national indoor doubles title, and three national outdoor mixed doubles titles. She also was named to the United States Wightman Cup team five years, was the number-one ranked woman tennis player for seven years, and from 1915 to 1927 was one of the three top-ranked United States competitors. Her seven national women's singles championships was equaled only by one other player, her rival, Helen Wills Moody. She was elected to the National Lawn Tennis Hall of Fame in 1958.
In 1916, Mallory wrote Tennis for Women (with Samuel Crowther) and an article, "How I Play Championship Tennis, " for the Ladies' Home Journal. She stressed the value of vigorous tennis for health and recommended to women the beauty of a sun-tanned complexion.
Specifically, she suggested that aspiring female tennis players should hit harder, play more for the baseline, and stop relying on net play. Above all, Mallory advised her followers to hit the ball on the rise instead of as the ball was dropping.
Mallory was a master of her own advice and was peerless in her steady and accurate all-court game. More than any other female tennis player, Mallory changed women's tennis from a slow, controlled game to a very competitive, scientific, and forceful sport.
She was best known by her contemporaries for her courage, sportsmanship, and intense desire to win.
In 1919, Mallory married Franklin I. Mallory, a stockbroker.
June 19, 1848 - October 4, 1925
1854 - April 23, 1914
10 September 1878 - 12 October 1973
16 July 1882 - 19 September 1968
November 7, 1885 - September 4, 1968
September 13, 1880 - August 22, 1962
