Alice Marble was a World No. 1
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
tennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player who won 18
Grand SlamThe four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
championships (1936–40): 5 in Singles, 6 in Women's Doubles, and 7 in Mixed Doubles.
Early life
Born in the small town of Beckwourth, Plumas County, California, Marble moved with her family at the age of five to San Francisco. A
tomboyA tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
, she excelled in many sports, including baseball; but her brother persuaded her to try the more lady-like tennis. She quickly mastered the game, playing in
Golden Gate ParkGolden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
. She suffered a setback at age fifteen when she was raped by a stranger, but she overcame the trauma and won several
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
junior tournaments.
Tennis career
The first lady to serve and volley, and noted for aggressive play called the "killer instinct" approach. This may account for her decisive and easy victories in challenge and early rounds. Marble being all business on the court, after defeating an opponent love and love, would go back to the locker room and chat-discussing the match as a friend and confidant. the right-handed Marble was again challenged in 1934 after collapsing during a match at the French Championships. Doctors diagnosed her with
pleurisyPleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Among other things, infections are the most common cause of pleurisy....
and
tuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, and she took an extended rest.
At the U.S. Championships, Marble won the Singles title (1936, 1938–40); the Women's Doubles title with
Sarah Palfrey CookeSarah Hammond Palfrey Fabyan Cooke Danzig was a female tennis player from the United States....
(1937–40); and the Mixed Doubles title with
Gene MakoConstantine Mako is a former American tennis player and is also an art gallery owner. He was born in Budapest, capital of Hungary. He won four Grand Slam doubles titles in the 1930s...
(1936),
Don BudgeJohn Donald Budge was an American tennis champion who was a World No. 1 player for five years, first as an amateur and then as a professional...
(1938),
Harry HopmanHenry Christian Hopman, CBE was a world-acclaimed Australian-American tennis player and coach, born in Glebe, Sydney, New South Wales, and soon moving to Parramatta, a city adjoining Sydney and now effectively a suburb of the metropolis.Hopman was a student at Rosehill Public Primary school...
(1939), and
Bobby RiggsRobert Larimore "Bobby" Riggs was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. 1 or the co-World No. 1 player for three years, first as an amateur in 1941, then as a professional in 1946 and 1947...
(1940).
At
WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
, Marble won the Singles title (1939); the Women's Doubles title with Cooke (1938–39); and the Mixed Doubles title with Budge (1937–38) and Riggs (1939).
In
Wightman CupThe Wightman Cup was a team tennis competition for women contested from 1923 through 1989 between teams from the United States and Great Britain. U.S. player Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman wanted to generate international interest in women's tennis the way Davis Cup did for men's...
competition, Marble lost only one Singles and one Doubles match in the years she competed (1933, 1937–40).
According to Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the
Daily MailThe Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, Marble was ranked in the World Top Ten 1936-39 (no rankings issued 1940-45), reaching a career high in those rankings of World No. 1 in 1939. Marble was included in the year-end Top Ten rankings issued by the
United States Lawn Tennis AssociationThe United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...
in 1932-33 and 1936-40. She was the top-ranked U.S. player in 1936-40.
Marble was the
Associated Press Athlete of the YearThe first Athlete of the Year award in the United States was initiated by the Associated Press in 1931. At a time when women in sports were never given the same recognition as men, the AP offered a male and a female athlete of the year award to either a professional or amateur athlete...
in 1939 and 1940.
After capping a stellar amateur career in 1940, Marble turned professional and earned a great sum of money, travelling around playing exhibition tournaments.
Through illness and victory, Marble had the support of her coach and mentor, Eleanor "Teach" Tennant, who changed her technique and influenced her life.
Retirement
For a brief time after retirement, she worked on the Editorial Advisory Board of
DC ComicsDC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
and was credited as an Associate Editor on
Wonder WomanWonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....
. She created the "Wonder Women of History" feature for the comics, which told the stories of prominent women of history in comic form.
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Marble was married to Joe Crowley, a pilot, who was killed in action over
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Only days before his death, she
miscarriedMiscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
their child following a car accident. After an attempt to kill herself, she recuperated and, in 1945, agreed to
spyEspionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
for U.S. intelligence. Her mission involved renewing contact with a former lover, a
SwissSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
banker, and obtaining
NaziNazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
financial data. The operation ended when a Nazi agent shot her in the back, but she was extracted and recovered. Few details of the operation ever emerged. The story was told only after her death when
Courting Danger ISBN 0-312-92813-0, a second autobiography, was published.
Marble greatly contributed to the desegregation of American tennis by writing an editorial in support of
Althea GibsonAlthea Gibson was a World No. 1 American sportswoman who became the first African-American woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour and the first to win a Grand Slam title in 1956. She is sometimes referred to as "the Jackie Robinson of tennis" for breaking the color barrier...
for the July 1, 1950, issue of American Lawn Tennis Magazine. The article read, in part, "Miss Gibson is over a very cunningly wrought barrel, and I can only hope to loosen a few of its staves with one lone opinion. If tennis is a game for ladies and gentlemen, it's also time we acted a little more like gentle-people and less like sanctimonious hypocrites.... If Althea Gibson represents a challenge to the present crop of women players, it's only fair that they should meet that challenge on the courts." Marble said that, if Gibson were not given the opportunity to compete, "then there is an ineradicable mark against a game to which I have devoted most of my life, and I would be bitterly ashamed." Gibson, age 23, was given entry into the 1950 U.S. Championships, becoming the first African-American player, man or woman, to compete in a
Grand SlamThe four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
event.
In 1964, Marble was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of FameThe International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The hall of fame and honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, and a court tennis facility.-History:The hall of fame and...
.
Weakened by pernicious anaemia, Marble died at a hospital in
Palm SpringsPalm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Alice Marble Tennis Courts, providing a breathtaking view of the Pacific ocean and the
Golden Gate bridgeThe Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
from the top of Russian Hill in San Francisco, is named in honor of her.
Wins (5)
| Year |
Championship |
Opponent in Final |
Score in Final |
| 1936 |
U.S. Championships |
 Helen Hull JacobsHelen Hull Jacobs was a World No. 1 American female tennis player who won ten Grand Slam titles. She was born in Globe, Arizona, United States.- Tennis career :...
|
4–6, 6–3, 6–2 |
| 1938 |
U.S. Championships (2) |
 Nancye Wynne BoltonNancye Wynne Bolton was a female tennis player from Australia. She won the women's singles title six times at the Australian Championships, second only to Margaret Court who won 11 titles...
|
6–0, 6–3 |
| 1939 |
WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
|
 Kay Stammers Bullitt |
6–2, 6–0 |
| 1939 |
U.S. Championships (3) |
Helen Hull Jacobs |
6–0, 8-10, 6–4 |
| 1940 |
U.S. Championships (4) |
Helen Hull Jacobs |
6–2, 6–3 |
Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
| Tournament | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | Career SR |
AustraliaThe Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
|
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
0 / 0 |
| France |
A |
A |
A |
2R |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
NH |
0 / 1 |
WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
|
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
A |
SF |
SF |
W |
NH |
1 / 3 |
| United States |
1R |
3R |
QF |
A |
A |
W |
QF |
W |
W |
W |
4 / 8 |
| SR |
0 / 1 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 1 |
0 / 0 |
1 / 1 |
0 / 2 |
1 / 2 |
2 / 2 |
1 / 1 |
5 / 12 |
NH = tournament not held.
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.
See also
External links