Bobbie Heine

Background

She was born in Greytown. Heine taught herself to play tennis by hitting the ball against the wall of her father"s butcher shop in Winterton.

Career

In 1929 she was ranked Number. 5 in the World. Her brother was South African cricketer Peter Heine. She received the nickname "Bobbie" as a junior player when at a tournament a representative of the South African Tennis Union remarked that the round shape of her face resembled that of an English policeman.

Heine made her first trip to Europe in 1927.

At the 1927 Wimbledon Championships she was defeated in the third round of the singles event in three sets by Phoebe Holcroft. In the doubles event she and Bowder Peacock reached the final but lost to the American couple Helen Wills and Elizabeth Ryan in straight sets.

At the 1929 French Championships she was seeded second in the singles event and was beaten in the quarterfinal by Cilly Aussem in three sets. She and Alida Neave were runner-ups in the doubles, losing the final to Kea Bouman and Lilí Álvarez in straight sets.

At Wimbledon that year she reached the singles quarterfinal which she lost to world Number.

She missed the 1930 Wimbledon Championships due to a scheduling disagreement with the South African Lawn Tennis Union. In the summer of 1938 she toured Europe for the third and final time, captaining the South African women team In June she lost the final of the Weybridge tournament in straight sets to Alice Marble.

Heine did not participate in the French Championships and lost in fourth round of the singles at Wimbledon, again to Wills, in a closely-fought two-set match.

In the doubles event she teamed up with countrywoman Margaret Morphew to reach the semifinal where eventual champions Sarah Fabyan and Alice Marble were victorious in two sets. A final scheduled visit to Wimbledon in 1947 ended prematurely when her plane crashed in Egypt.

All passengers survived and Heine Miller sustained only minor leg injuries but her tennis was largely lost. Doubles (1 title, 2 runners-up).

Achievements

• She won the doubles title at the 1927 French Championships partnering Irene Bowder Peacock. In 1925 she won the Natal singles championship at the age of 15. In May she won the Surrey Championships at Surbiton after a win in the final against Irene Bowder Peacock and together they won the doubles title. She again teamed up with compatriot Bowder Peacock to win the doubles title at the 1927 French Championships, her first and only Grand Slam tournament title, defeating the British partnership of Peggy Saunders and Phoebe Holcroft Watson in two straight sets. At the same championships she achieved her best singles performance at a Grand Slam event by reaching the semifinals which she lost in three sets to eventual winner Kea Bouman. In 1929, on her second European trip, Heine won the singles titles at the Irish Open, defeating compatriot Billie Tapscott in three sets. In addition she won the British Hard Court Championships, after a victory in a closely-fought three-sets final against Joan Ridley that lasted two hours. 1 and eventual champion Helen Wills in two sets. She won the singles and doubles titles at the Dutch Championships in July, defeating Nancye Wynne in the singles final in two sets. Heine (Miller) won the South African Championships singles title on five occasions (1928, 1931, 1932, 1936 and 1937). Additionally she won six doubles titles (1930, 1931, 1937, 1938, 1939 and 1947) and five mixed doubles titles (1930, 1936, 1937, 1938 and 1939).