Nell Hall Hopman
Encyclopedia
Eleanor "Nell" Mary Hall Hopman (19 March 1909 – 10 January 1968) was one of the female tennis
players that dominated Australian tennis from 1930 through the early 1960s. She was the first wife of Harry Hopman
, the coach and captain of 22 Australian Davis Cup
teams.
(1930, 1936, 1937, and 1939). They were mixed doubles finalists at Wimbledon
in 1935, losing to Fred Perry
and Dorothy Round Little
7–5, 4–6, 6–2.
Hopman was a singles finalist at the Australian Championships in 1939 and 1947. She partnered with Maureen Connolly Brinker to win the women's doubles title at the 1954 French Championships. She played in 58 Grand Slam
singles events during her career, the last one a first round loss at the 1966 French Championships when she was 57 years old. She played in 27 of the 28 singles events that were held at the Australian Championships from 1930 through 1962, including 25 consecutive events from 1933 through 1962. Her last Grand Slam event was the women's doubles tournament at the 1966 U.S. Championships
, where she and Mrs. Arklay Richards lost in the first round.
Hopman was instrumental in Tennis Australia's
decision to invite the reigning Wimbledon
champion, Louise Brough Clapp, and Doris Hart
to play tournaments in Australia in the summer of 1949-1950. She also arranged for Connolly Brinker and the American junior title holder Julie Sampson Haywood
to play in Australia in the summer of 1952-1953. The end result was Tennis Australia's decision to establish a committee to discuss ways and means of improving the "poor standards of Australian women's tennis". Other tennis writers supported Hopman's efforts, accusing Tennis Australia of a "parochial attitude to women players". In 1955, Tennis Australia finally sent a women's team abroad, under the management of Adrian Quist
. In 1961, Hopman took another women's team abroad, consisting of Margaret Court, Lesley Turner Bowrey
, and Mary Carter Reitano
. Although the tour was a financial success, Hopman was accused of overworking and underfeeding her players and forcing them to stay in inadequate hotels. As a result, Court refused to participate in the 1962 overseas tour led by Hopman.
Hopman was employed by the United States Lawn Tennis Association
and the Southern California Tennis Association from 1952 through 1954 to be the traveling companion and chaperon of Connolly Brinker. In 1962, she persuaded the International Tennis Federation
to begin sponsoring the Federation Cup, now known as the Fed Cup
, an international team event for women similar to the Davis Cup
for men.
Hopman became the first life member of Tennis Victoria in 1965 but the following year underwent unsuccessful surgery for a brain tumor and died in early 1968.
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.
Tennis
Tennis 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...
players that dominated Australian tennis from 1930 through the early 1960s. She was the first wife of Harry Hopman
Harry Hopman
Henry 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...
, the coach and captain of 22 Australian Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
teams.
Career
Hopman teamed with her husband to win four mixed doubles titles at the Australian ChampionshipsAustralian Open
The 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...
(1930, 1936, 1937, and 1939). They were mixed doubles finalists at Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The 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...
in 1935, losing to Fred Perry
Fred Perry
Frederick John Perry was a championship-winning English tennis and table tennis player who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slams and two Pro Slams. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships between 1934 and 1936 and was World No. 1 four years in a row...
and Dorothy Round Little
Dorothy Round Little
Dorothy Edith Round Little was a World No. 1 British female tennis player. She was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, England, where she attended the Dudley Girls High School....
7–5, 4–6, 6–2.
Hopman was a singles finalist at the Australian Championships in 1939 and 1947. She partnered with Maureen Connolly Brinker to win the women's doubles title at the 1954 French Championships. She played in 58 Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The 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...
singles events during her career, the last one a first round loss at the 1966 French Championships when she was 57 years old. She played in 27 of the 28 singles events that were held at the Australian Championships from 1930 through 1962, including 25 consecutive events from 1933 through 1962. Her last Grand Slam event was the women's doubles tournament at the 1966 U.S. Championships
U.S. Open (tennis)
The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
, where she and Mrs. Arklay Richards lost in the first round.
Hopman was instrumental in Tennis Australia's
Tennis Australia
Tennis Australia is the governing body for the sport of Tennis in Australia. The organisation exists to promote tennis and conduct domestic and international tournaments on behalf of Australia, including the Australian Open and the Davis Cup for the Australian Davis Cup Team...
decision to invite the reigning Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The 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...
champion, Louise Brough Clapp, and Doris Hart
Doris Hart
Doris Hart is a former World No. 1 American female tennis player.As a child, she suffered from osteomyelitis, which resulted in a permanently impaired right leg...
to play tournaments in Australia in the summer of 1949-1950. She also arranged for Connolly Brinker and the American junior title holder Julie Sampson Haywood
Julie Sampson Haywood
Julia Ann Sampson Hayward is a female former tennis player from the United States who won two Grand Slam titles.As the second seeded foreign player, Hayward reached the singles final of the 1953 Australian Championships, losing to Maureen Connolly Brinker 6–3, 6–2.Hayward and Rex Hartwig teamed to...
to play in Australia in the summer of 1952-1953. The end result was Tennis Australia's decision to establish a committee to discuss ways and means of improving the "poor standards of Australian women's tennis". Other tennis writers supported Hopman's efforts, accusing Tennis Australia of a "parochial attitude to women players". In 1955, Tennis Australia finally sent a women's team abroad, under the management of Adrian Quist
Adrian Quist
Adrian Karl Quist was an Australian male tennis player.-Biography:Adrian Quist was born in Medindie, South Australia. The tennis legend grew up in Adelaide and once played Harry Hopman, however he lost, only because he gave Hopman a head start...
. In 1961, Hopman took another women's team abroad, consisting of Margaret Court, Lesley Turner Bowrey
Lesley Turner Bowrey
Lesley Rosemary Turner Bowrey AM is an Australian female tennis player.Bowrey won 13 Grand Slam titles during her career: two in singles, seven in women's doubles, and four in mixed doubles. She lost in the final of 14 other Grand Slam events.Bowrey twice won the singles title at the French...
, and Mary Carter Reitano
Mary Carter Reitano
Mary Carter Reitano is a female former tennis player from Australia.Reitano won the singles title at the 1956 and 1959 Australian Championships and failed to reached the semifinals there only once in nine attempts. She teamed with Margaret Court to win the women's doubles title there in 1961...
. Although the tour was a financial success, Hopman was accused of overworking and underfeeding her players and forcing them to stay in inadequate hotels. As a result, Court refused to participate in the 1962 overseas tour led by Hopman.
Hopman was employed by the United States Lawn Tennis Association
United States Tennis Association
The 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...
and the Southern California Tennis Association from 1952 through 1954 to be the traveling companion and chaperon of Connolly Brinker. In 1962, she persuaded the International Tennis Federation
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
to begin sponsoring the Federation Cup, now known as the Fed Cup
Fed Cup
Fed Cup is the premier team competition in women's tennis, launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation...
, an international team event for women similar to the Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
for men.
Hopman became the first life member of Tennis Victoria in 1965 but the following year underwent unsuccessful surgery for a brain tumor and died in early 1968.
Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
| Tournament | 1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941–44 | 1945 | 19461 | 19471 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963–65 | 1966 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Championships Australian Open The 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... |
1R | 1R | A | QF | QF | SF | QF | 2R | SF | F | SF | NH | NH | QF | F | QF | 2R | QF | QF | 2R | 2R | QF | QF | 2R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2R | A | A | 0 / 27 |
| French Championships | A | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | A | A | 3R | A | NH | R | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | A | A | 1R | A | 1R | 2R | A | 1R | 0 / 12 |
| Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon The 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 | 3R | 2R | A | A | 1R | A | NH | NH | NH | A | 4R | A | A | A | A | 3R | 3R | 1R | 2R | 2R | A | A | 2R | A | 1R | A | A | A | 0 / 11 |
| U.S. Championships | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 3R | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 2R | 2R | 1R | A | A | 2R | A | A | 2R | A | A | 0 / 8 |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 58 |
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
- Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam finalTennis performance timeline comparison (women)This article presents in a tabular form the career tennis Grand Slam, World Hard Court Championships and Olympic singles results of every woman who has reached the singles final of at least one Grand Slam, World Hard Court Championships or Olympic tournament during her career...