Background
The second daughter of Oscar James Akhurst, a lithographer, and his wife Jessie Florence (née Smith), Daphne Akhurst won the women"s singles title at the Australian Championships five times, in 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, and 1930.
The second daughter of Oscar James Akhurst, a lithographer, and his wife Jessie Florence (née Smith), Daphne Akhurst won the women"s singles title at the Australian Championships five times, in 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, and 1930.
According to Wallis Myers (Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail), she was ranked World Number. 3 in 1928. She is fourth on the list of most women"s singles titles at the Australian Championships. Behind only Margaret Court with eleven titles and Nancye Wynne Bolton and Serena Williams with six titles.
She and Marjorie Cox were the runners-up in 1926.
In 1925 she was part of the first Australian women"s team to tour Europe and reached the quarterfinal of the singles event at Wimbledon which she lost to Joan Fry. During her second and last European tour in 1928, she reached the singles quarterfinal at the French Championships, in which Cristobel Hardie defeated her, and the semifinal at Wimbledon, which she lost in straight sets to Lili de Alvarez.
She and Willard were the runners-up in 1926. She was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame on Australia Day (26 January), 2006.
She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.
Singles: 5 titles
Doubles: 6 (5 titles, 1 runner-up)
Mixed Doubles: 6 (4 titles, 2 runners-up)
New Hampshire = tournament not held. A = did not participate in the tournament. 1The French Championships were not held in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris that year.
Akhurst won the women"s singles title at the Australian Championships five times between 1925 and 1930. She won the women"s doubles title at the Australian Championships five times: in 1924 and 1925 with Sylvia Lance Harper, in 1928 with Esna Boyd Robertson, and in 1929 and 1931 with Louie Bickerton. Akhurst won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Championships four times: in 1924 and 1925 with Jim Willard, in 1928 with Jean Borotra, and in 1929 with Gar Moon. Since 1934 the trophy presented each year to the winner of the women"s singles at the Australian Open is named the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in her honour. Social Research = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
