Maureen Catherine Brinker was an American tennis player and coach, who became the first woman to win the Grand Slam of tennis: the British (Wimbledon), United States, Australian, and French singles championships.
Background
Maureen Catherine Brinker was born on September 17, 1934 in San Diego, California, United States. She was the daughter of Martin Connolly, a lieutenant commander and athletics officer at the Naval Training Center, and Jassamine Wood. Connolly's father deserted the family when she was about four years old. Her mother subsequently married August Berste, a musician; they in turn divorced. As a child, Connolly was guided by an overly dominating mother who, frustrated in her own desire to become a concert pianist, pushed her daughter into the study of dancing and singing. But a poorly performed tonsillectomy ended Connolly's chance of a singing career. Horseback riding was Connolly's first love, but the family's poor financial position precluded her owning a horse.
Education
She graduated from high school in 1951.
Career
She met an aggressive tennis stylist, Gene Garret, while playing on the neighborhood tennis court, and decided that tennis would be a substitute for horseback riding. In 1944 she started playing tennis. She was left-handed, but her first tennis coach, Wilbur Folsom, instructed her to play right-handed. She began practicing her game at least three hours a day, five days a week, all year long. She later commented, "Any championship career has foundation stones. Mine were slavish work and driving determination. " As Connolly's play progressed she switched coaches. She was introduced to Eleanor ("Teach") Tennant, who had instructed such tennis greats as Helen Wills, Bobby Riggs, and Alice Marble. In May 1947, while playing in the Southern California Invitational Tennis Championship, Connolly won the tournament for girls of fifteen years and under. She achieved only average grades at Cathedral High School, having begun her professional tennis career in 1949. By the age of fifteen she had won more than fifty championships, suffering only four defeats. She was selected to play on the United States Wightman Cup team, again the youngest player ever to be so honored. She helped defend the international trophy by defeating Kay Tuckey of England 6-1, 6-3.
Sportswriters dubbed her "Little Mo" after the battleship Missouri, its decks loaded with powerful weapons. At sixteen, she defeated Shirley Fry for the 1951 United States Women's Singles Championship, the second youngest champion in history. Connolly remarked to coach Tennant after the match, "Now we can go home and work on the offensive game. " Her ground strokes, especially her backhand, were her strength. Between 1951 and 1954 she was nearly unbeatable. She was United States Singles Champion in 1952 and 1953, French Singles Champion in 1953 and 1954, Wimbledon Singles Champion from 1952 through 1954, Australian Singles Champion in 1953, and United States Clay Court Singles Champion in 1953 and 1954. The feat has never been duplicated. She was named female athlete of the year three times (1952, 1953, and 1954) by the Associated Press. In July 1954 while riding her horse, Colonel Merryboy, she suffered a broken right leg and deeply gashed muscles and tendons. Unable to continue tournament play, Connolly announced her retirement in February 1955. Philosophical about her forced retirement, Connolly devoted herself to coaching youngsters. Her love for the game never died.
She established the Maureen Connolly Brinker Foundation for the advancement of tennis achievement among junior players in Texas. Although she was a bubbling young lady, full of gaiety and friendliness, her relationships with her mother and Tennant were often marked by heated disagreements and misunder-standings. After her 1952 Wimbledon victory she severed all ties with Tennant. When asked by a reporter, "What was your most amusing experience in the sport?" she replied, "I never had one. " Personal friction strengthened her aggressiveness and determination on the court and helped make her the dominant female player of her day. She died of cancer in Dallas, Texas, United States.
Achievements
Views
Quotations:
"Tennis is a wonderful game and I leave it with no regrets. I've had a full life with lots of travel and I've met lots of wonderful people. Now I'm going to be a little housewife. It's a new career and I'm awfully happy with it. "
Personality
American Magazine described her as "an all-round player with a strong forehand stroke and terrific ability to concentrate deliberately and deceptively unspectacular with a racquet. "
Connections
She married Norman Brinker, a businessman and former member of the United States Olympic equestrian team. They had two children.