Shirley Fry
![]() Irvin in the Netherlands in 1953 | |
Full name | Shirley June Fry Irvin |
---|---|
Country (sports) | ![]() |
Born | Akron, Ohio, United States | June 30, 1927
Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) |
Retired | 1957 |
Plays | Right–handed |
Int. Tennis HoF | 1970 (member page) |
Singles | |
Career record | 0–0 |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (1956) |
Grand Slam singles results | |
Australian Open | W (1957) |
French Open | W (1951) |
Wimbledon | W (1956) |
US Open | W (1956) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 0–0 |
Grand Slam doubles results | |
Australian Open | W (1957) |
French Open | W (1950, 1951, 1952, 1953) |
Wimbledon | W (1951, 1952, 1953) |
US Open | W (1951, 1952, 1953, 1954) |
Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
French Open | F (1952) |
Wimbledon | W (1956) |
US Open | F (1951, 1955) |
Team competitions | |
Wightman Cup | W (1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956) |
Shirley June Fry Irvin (née Fry; born June 30, 1927) is a former world No. 1 tennis player from the United States. During her career, which lasted from the early 1940s until the mid-1950s, she won the singles title at all four Grand Slam events as well as 13 doubles titles.
Biography
Fry was raised in Akron, Ohio and starrted playing tennis competitively at age nine.[1][2] She was educated at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida where she graduated in 1949.[1][3]
Fry is one of 10 women[a] to have won each Grand Slam singles tournament at least once during her career. She is also one of seven women (with Hart, Court, Navratilova, Pam Shriver, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams) to have won all four Grand Slam doubles tournaments. At the U.S. National Championship (precursor of the U.S. Open) in 1942, Irvin reached the singles quarterfinals at the age of 15. At Wimbledon in 1953, Fry and Hart lost only four games during the entire women's doubles tournament and won three matches without losing a game, including the semifinals and finals, the latter over Connolly and Julie Sampson Haywood. Fry won the last three Grand Slam singles tournaments she entered, including wins over Althea Gibson in the Wimbledon quarterfinal and U.S. Championship final in 1956 and the Australian Championships final in 1957.
Fry was ranked in the world top 10 in 1946 and 1948 and from 1950 through 1955 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), and No. 1 in 1956.[4] The United States Lawn Tennis Association ranked her in the U.S. top 10 from 1944 through 1955 and No. 1 in 1956.[5] She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1970.
From 1951 through 1956 she participated in the Wightman Cup, the women's team competition between Great Britain and the United States, and contributed to the U.S. victory during each of these editions with the exception of 1954, when her final doubles rubber was not played. She compiled a 10-2 W/L record.[3]
Fry married Karl Irvin in Australia, in February 1957 after which she retired from top-level tennis. The couple had four children.[2][3]
Grand Slam finals
Singles: 8 (4 titles–4 runners-up)
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Runner-up | 1948 | French Championships | Clay | ![]() |
2–6, 6–0, 0–6 |
Winner | 1951 | French Championships | Clay | ![]() |
6–3, 3–6, 6–3 |
Runner-up | 1951 | Wimbledon | Grass | ![]() |
1–6, 0–6 |
Runner-up | 1951 | U.S. Championships | Grass | ![]() |
3–6, 6–1, 4–6 |
Runner-up | 1952 | French Championships | Clay | ![]() |
4–6, 4–6 |
Winner | 1956 | Wimbledon | Grass | ![]() |
6–3, 6–1 |
Winner | 1956 | U.S. Championships | Grass | ![]() |
6–3, 6–4 |
Winner | 1957 | Australian Championships | Grass | ![]() |
6–3, 6–4 |
Doubles: 19 (12 titles, 7 runner-ups)
Grand Slam tournament timelines
W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
Singles
Tournament | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 19461 | 19471 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | Career SR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Championships | NH | NH | NH | NH | NH | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | W | 1 / 1 |
French Championships | R | R | R | R | A | A | A | F | A | QF | W | F | SF | A | A | A | A | 1 / 5 |
Wimbledon | NH | NH | NH | NH | NH | A | A | QF | 4R | QF | F | SF | SF | QF | A | W | A | 1 / 8 |
U.S. Championships | 1R | QF | 1R | QF | 1R | 1R | 3R | 3R | 3R | QF | F | SF | SF | SF | QF | W | A | 1 / 16 |
SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 1 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 1 | 2 / 2 | 1 / 1 | 4 / 30 |
Doubles
Tournament | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 19461 | 19471 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | Career SR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Championships | A | NH | NH | NH | NH | NH | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | W | 1 / 1 |
French Championships | R | R | R | R | A | A | A | F | A | W | W | W | W | A | A | A | A | 4 / 5 |
Wimbledon | NH | NH | NH | NH | NH | A | A | 3R | SF | F | W | W | W | F | A | SF | A | 3 / 8 |
U.S. Championships | A | 1R | 1R | QF | SF | SF | SF | SF | F | F | W | W | W | W | F | F | A | 4 / 15 |
SR | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 1 / 3 | 3 / 3 | 3 / 3 | 3 / 3 | 1 / 2 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 2 | 1 / 1 | 12 / 29 |
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam doubles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
1In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.
See also
Notes
- ^ along with Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, Steffi Graf, Doris Hart, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Maria Sharapova, and Serena Williams.
References
- ^ a b David Whitley (September 8, 2000). "Orlando's Wimbledon Champion". Orlando Sentinel.
- ^ a b "Shirley Fry engaged; to wed in February". St. Petersburg Times. December 4, 1956. p. 22 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ a b c "Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame". Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).
- ^ Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 702–3. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
- ^ United States Tennis Association (1988). 1988 Official USTA Tennis Yearbook. Lynn, Massachusetts: H.O. Zimman, Inc. p. 261.
External links
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- 1927 births
- Living people
- American female tennis players
- Australian Championships (tennis) champions
- French Championships (tennis) champions
- Sportspeople from Akron, Ohio
- Rollins Tars women's tennis players
- International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees
- Tennis people from Ohio
- United States National champions (tennis)
- Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era)
- World No. 1 tennis players
- Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles
- Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
- Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles