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Margaret Evelyn Osborne duPont (born March 4,
1918) is a former World No. 1 American female tennis player.
DuPont won a total of 37 singles, women's doubles, and mixed
doubles Grand Slam titles, which places her
fourth on the all-time list despite never entering the Australian
Championships. She won 25 of her Grand Slam titles at the U.S.
Championships, which is an all-time record.
Career
DuPont won 6 Grand Slam singles titles, saving match points in
the finals of the 1946 French Championships (versus Pauline Betz Addie) and 1948 U.S.
Championships (versus Louise Brough
Clapp). In terms of games played, the 1948 final at the U.S.
Championships is the longest women's singles final ever played at
that tournament (48 games).
DuPont teamed with Brough Clapp to win 20 Grand Slam women's
doubles titles, which ties Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver for the
most Grand Slam titles ever won by a women's doubles team. DuPont
and Brough Clapp won nine consecutive titles at the U.S.
Championships from 1942 through 1950. They won that tournament 12
of the 14 years they entered as a team. Their 12 titles is an
all-time record for a women's doubles team at the U.S.
Championships, easily surpassing the four career titles won by the
teams of Navratilova and Shriver, Doris Hart and Shirley Fry
Irvin, and Sarah Palfrey Cooke and Alice Marble. DuPont
won a total of 13 women's doubles titles at the U.S. Championships,
which also is an all-time record, as is her 10 consecutive women's
doubles titles at the U.S. Championships from 1941 through
1950.
DuPont won more mixed doubles titles at the U.S. Championships
than any other player. She won nine titles, including four with William Talbert (a record for a mixed
doubles team at the U.S. Championships) and three with Neale Fraser.
According to John Olliff and Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, DuPont was
ranked in the world top ten from 1946 through 1950, 1953, 1954,
1956, and 1957 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945),
reaching a career high of World No. 1 in those rankings from 1947
through 1950.[1] DuPont
was included in the year-end top ten rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis
Association in 1938, 1941 through 1950, 1953, 1956, and 1958.
She was the top ranked U.S. player from 1948 through 1950.[2]
From 1938 through 1958, DuPont went undefeated in ten Wightman Cup
competitions, winning her ten singles and nine doubles matches. She
also captained the U.S. team nine times, winning eight.
DuPont married William duPont in 1947 and later interrupted her
career to give birth to a son. She was one of the few women to win
a major title after childbirth but never played the Australian
Championships because her husband would not let her. "They didn't
start to invite people down there and pay their expenses until I
got married, and that was wintertime and Will's vacation time, and
I just never got to go. He threatened to divorce me if I went to
Australia, so I never went. He had that respiratory trouble, and he
wanted me to come to California with him. He thought I should be
with him. That was that."[3]
Awards
She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall
of Fame in 1967. The Delaware Sports
Museum and Hall of Fame inducted du Pont in 1999.
Grand Slam
record
- French
Championships (5)
- Singles champion (2): 1946, 1949
- Women's Doubles champion (3): 1946, 1947,
1949
- Women's Doubles runner-up: 1950
- Wimbledon (7)
- Singles champion: 1947
- Singles runner-up (2): 1949, 1950
- Women's Doubles champion (5): 1946, 1948,
1949, 1950, 1954
- Women's Doubles runner-up (3): 1947, 1951, 1958
- Mixed Doubles champion: 1962
- Mixed Doubles runner-up: 1954
- U.S.
Championships (25)
- Singles champion (3): 1948, 1949, 1950
- Singles runner-up (2): 1944, 1947
- Women's Doubles champion (13): 1941, 1942,
1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1955, 1956,
1957
- Women's Doubles runner-up (2): 1953, 1954
- Mixed Doubles champion (9): 1943, 1944, 1945,
1946, 1950, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960
- Mixed Doubles runner-up (3): 1948, 1949, 1954
Grand
Slam singles finals
Wins
(6)
Runner-ups
(4)
Grand Slam performance
timelines
Singles
| Tournament |
1938 |
1939 |
1940 |
1941 |
1942 |
1943 |
1944 |
1945 |
19461 |
19471 |
1948 |
1949 |
1950 |
1951 |
1952 |
1953 |
1954 |
1955 |
1956 |
1957 |
1958 |
1959 |
1960 |
1961 |
1962 |
Career SR |
| Australia |
A |
A |
A |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
0 /
0 |
| France |
A |
A |
NH |
R |
R |
R |
R |
A |
W |
SF |
A |
W |
QF |
SF |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
2 /
5 |
| Wimbledon |
A |
A |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
SF |
W |
SF |
F |
F |
QF |
A |
A |
QF |
A |
A |
A |
QF |
A |
A |
A |
1R |
1 /
9 |
| United States |
2R |
A |
3R |
SF |
SF |
QF |
F |
QF |
QF |
F |
W |
W |
W |
A |
A |
QF |
3R |
A |
QF |
A |
3R |
A |
1R |
A |
A |
3 /
17 |
| SR |
0 / 1 |
0 / 0 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 1 |
1 / 3 |
1 / 3 |
1 / 2 |
2 / 3 |
1 / 3 |
0 / 2 |
0 / 0 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 2 |
0 / 0 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 0 |
0 / 2 |
0 / 0 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 0 |
0 / 1 |
6 /
31 |
NH = tournament not held.
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German
occupation.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won
to the number of those tournaments played.
1In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held
after Wimbledon.
Women's
doubles
| Tournament |
1938 |
1939 |
1940 |
1941 |
1942 |
1943 |
1944 |
1945 |
19461 |
19471 |
1948 |
1949 |
1950 |
1951 |
1952 |
1953 |
1954 |
1955 |
1956 |
1957 |
1958 |
1959 |
1960 |
1961 |
1962 |
Career SR |
| Australia |
A |
A |
A |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
0 /
0 |
| France |
A |
A |
NH |
R |
R |
R |
R |
A |
W |
W |
A |
W |
F |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
3 /
4 |
| Wimbledon |
A |
A |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
W |
F |
W |
W |
W |
F |
A |
A |
W |
A |
A |
A |
F |
A |
A |
A |
3R |
5 /
9 |
| United States |
1R |
A |
QF |
W |
W |
W |
W |
W |
W |
W |
W |
W |
W |
A |
A |
F |
F |
W |
W |
W |
QF |
QF |
A |
SF |
SF |
13 /
21 |
| SR |
0 / 1 |
0 / 0 |
0 / 1 |
1 / 1 |
1 / 1 |
1 / 1 |
1 / 1 |
1 / 1 |
3 / 3 |
2 / 3 |
2 / 2 |
3 / 3 |
2 / 3 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 0 |
0 / 1 |
1 / 2 |
1 / 1 |
1 / 1 |
1 / 1 |
0 / 2 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 0 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 2 |
21 /
34 |
NH = tournament not held.
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German
occupation.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won
to the number of those tournaments played.
1In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held
after Wimbledon.
Mixed
doubles
| Tournament |
1938 |
1939 |
1940 |
1941 |
1942 |
1943 |
1944 |
1945 |
19461 |
19471 |
1948 |
1949 |
1950 |
1951 |
1952 |
1953 |
1954 |
1955 |
1956 |
1957 |
1958 |
1959 |
1960 |
1961 |
1962 |
Career SR |
| Australia |
A |
A |
A |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
0 /
0 |
| France |
A |
A |
NH |
R |
R |
R |
R |
A |
? |
? |
A |
? |
? |
? |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
0
/ ? |
| Wimbledon |
A |
A |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
NH |
SF |
SF |
SF |
4R |
4R |
SF |
A |
A |
F |
A |
A |
A |
? |
A |
A |
A |
W |
1
/ ? |
| United States |
2R |
A |
? |
? |
SF |
W |
W |
W |
W |
SF |
F |
F |
W |
A |
A |
A |
F |
? |
W |
SF |
W |
W |
W |
A |
A |
9
/ ? |
| SR |
0 / 1 |
0 / 0 |
0 / ? |
0 / ? |
0 / 1 |
1 / 1 |
1 / 1 |
1 / 1 |
1 / ? |
0 / ? |
0 / ? |
0 / ? |
1 / ? |
0 / ? |
0 / 0 |
0 / 0 |
0 / 2 |
0 / ? |
1 / 1 |
0 / 1 |
1 / ? |
1 / 1 |
1 / 1 |
0 / 0 |
1 /1 |
10
/ ? |
NH = tournament not held.
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German
occupation.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won
to the number of those tournaments played.
1In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held
after Wimbledon.
See also
External
links
References
- ^
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.. pp. 260–1.
- ^
Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr
(1988). We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's
Tennis. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 70. ISBN
0-07-034625-9.