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Christine Truman

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Christine Truman
MBE
Full nameChristine Clara Truman Janes
ITF nameChristine Janes
Country (sports) United Kingdom
Born (1941-01-16) 16 January 1941 (age 83)
Loughton, England
PlaysRight-handed
Singles
Career record611-207 (74.7%)
Career titles38
Highest rankingNo. 2 (1959)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenSF (1960)
French OpenW (1959)
WimbledonF (1961)
US OpenF (1959)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenW (1960)
French OpenSF (1959)
WimbledonF (1959)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenSF (1960)
French OpenSF (1967)
WimbledonQF (1959)
US OpenSF (1958)
Team competitions
Wightman CupW (1958, 1960, 1968)

Christine Clara Truman Janes[1] MBE (born 16 January 1941) is a former tennis player from the United Kingdom who was active from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. She won a singles Grand Slam title at the French Championships in 1959 and was a finalist at Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships. She helped Great Britain win the Wightman Cup in 1958, 1960 and 1968.

Career

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Christine Truman was a member of a tight-knit, supportive tennis-playing family. She often entered the Wimbledon mixed doubles with her brother Humphrey.[2] She formed a successful doubles partnership with her younger sister Nell Truman. She was the British junior champion in 1956 and 1957. Truman made her debut at Wimbledon in 1957 at age 16, beating the then French Open champion Shirley Bloomer and Betty Rosenquest, and eventually losing to eventual champion Althea Gibson in the semifinals.[2][3]

In 1958, she caused a sensation by defeating Gibson, the reigning Wimbledon champion, in the Wightman Cup and helped bring the cup back to Great Britain after 21 consecutive defeats by the United States.[4] She also beat Dorothy Knode and won her doubles with Shirley Bloomer.[2] A few weeks later at Wimbledon, however, as the second seed she was defeated in the fourth round by the American Mimi Arnold. This loss helped start her reputation as an unpredictable player.

In 1959, she became the youngest women's singles champion at the French Championships at the age of 18,[a] beating Sandra Reynolds in three sets and defending champion Zsuzsa Körmöczy in straight sets in the final. That year, by far her best, also saw her as the winner of the Italian Championships, beating Yola Ramírez and Sandra Reynolds In 1959, she also was runner-up at the U.S. Championships[4] to Maria Bueno after beating Dorothy Knode and Ann Haydon.[5] In doubles at Wimbledon, Truman partnered Beverly Baker to reach the women's doubles final (where they lost to Darlene Hard and Jeanne Arth).

In 1960, she was the third seed at Wimbledon, where she lost the semifinals to Maria Bueno in three sets. She also lost to Bueno in the semifinals of the U.S. Open. She teamed with Bueno to win the women's doubles title at the Australian Championships that year. She won the British Hard Courts championships by beating Angela Mortimer 6–2, 2–6, 6–2 and Ann Haydon 6–2, 6–2. She also won Queen's, beating future Wimbledon winner Karen Hantze 6–4, 6–3.[6]

In 1961, she defeated the second seed Margaret Smith 3–6, 6–3, 9–7 in the quarterfinals after trailing 4–1 in the final set and saving two match points. She then beat Renée Schuurman in the semifinals 6–4, 6–4 and then lost to fellow Briton Angela Mortimer in the final.[7]

In July 1962, it was revealed that Truman is partially blind in her left eye.[8] After a poor year in 1962, she came back in 1963 to reach the semifinals of the French and quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, losing in three sets to Margaret Smith. She also won Monte Carlo in 1964 beating top ten players Helga Schultze, Vera Suková, and Jan Lehane and the South African championships in 1965, beating Françoise Dürr 6–2, 6–4 and Annette Van Zyl 6–2, 6–3. She also won the doubles with Margaret Hunt Price.[9][10][11]

Truman had another comparatively successful Wimbledon run in 1965, when unseeded, she defeated sixth-seeded Carole Caldwell Graebner, Judy Tegart, Julie Heldman, and fourth-seeded Nancy Richey. Her run to the semifinals held some irony as it was the first time in Wimbledon history that no British player had been seeded in the women's championship. She was defeated by no. 2 seed (and eventual champion) Margaret Smith in the semifinals 6–4, 6–0.[12] She had been affected by injury and illness in 1961, 1964, and 1965. In 1965, during practice for the Wightman Cup, Truman severely hurt her Achilles tendon for the second time,[13] and this injury led to an 18-month gap in her career. After this injury, she was not ranked in the world's top 10 again.

In April 1968, she and her sister Nell Truman became the first winners of an open tennis event by winning the women's doubles title at the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth.[3]

Her tennis was an all-attack game, reaching the net at the earliest possibility. She had a tremendously strong, flat forehand, balanced with a sliced backhand, excellent volleys and smash, and hard serve.

During her career, Truman had wins over most of the other leading players of her day, including Althea Gibson (Wightman Cup 1958); Maria Bueno (Pacific Coast 1958 and Caribbean 1959); Darlene Hard several times, notably in the Wightman Cup in 1959; British rivals Angela Mortimer, Ann Haydon, Shirley Bloomer Brasher, all on several occasions; Zsuszi Körmöczy, Margaret Smith, Billie Jean Moffitt, Sandra Reynolds, Karen Hantze, and Lesley Turner.[10] According to Lance Tingay, Truman was ranked in the world top 10 from 1957 to 1961 as well as 1965, and she reached a career high ranking of world no. 2 in 1959.[14]

In December 1967, she married former Wasps player Gerry Janes and they have four children,[15] including former pro tennis player Amanda Keen and six grand children. The couple remain married, but Gerry Janes has been living in managed care since being diagnosed with dementia.[16] She retired from tennis in 1975 and became a commentator for BBC Radio in the same year. In the 2001 Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to lawn tennis.[17] Since 2011 she has published several children's books.[18]

As of 2023, Truman is known as Doctor Christine Janes.[1]

Grand Slam finals

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Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

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Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Win 1959 French Championships Clay Hungary Zsuzsi Körmöczy 6–4, 7–5
Loss 1959 U.S. Championships Grass Brazil Maria Bueno 1–6, 4–6
Loss 1961 Wimbledon Grass United Kingdom Angela Mortimer 6–4, 4–6, 5–7

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

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Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1959 Wimbledon Grass United States Beverly Baker United States Jeanne Arth
United States Darlene Hard		 6–2, 2–6, 3–6
Win 1960 Australian Championships Grass Brazil Maria Bueno Australia Lorraine Coghlan Robinson
Australia Margaret Smith		 6–2, 5–7, 6–2

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
Tournament 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 Career SR
Australia A A A SF A A 2R A 3R A A A A A A A A A 0 / 3
France 1R QF W A QF 4R SF QF A A 3R A A A A A A A 1 / 8
Wimbledon SF 4R 4R SF F 3R 4R 2R SF A 1R 2R 4R A 4R A 1R 3R 0 / 15
United States 3R QF F SF QF A QF A A A A A 3R A A A A A 0 / 7
SR 0 / 3 0 / 3 1 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 2 0 / 4 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 1 1 / 33

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ That record has since been broken by Steffi Graf in 1987, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 1989, and Monica Seles in 1990.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Royal box roll call day 13". wimbledon.com. 15 July 2023. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Tennis Today Truman, Christine Published by Arthur Barker (1961)
  3. ^ a b John Barrett, ed. (1969). BP Yearbook of World Tennis. London: Ward Lock. pp. 194, 199. ISBN 978-0706318241. OCLC 502175694.
  4. ^ a b John Barrett, ed. (1990). The International Tennis Federation : World of Tennis 1990. London: Willow Books. pp. 364, 365. ISBN 9780002183550.
  5. ^ "Christine Truman Upset At Women's Wimbledon". Kentucky New Era. AP. 24 June 1959.
  6. ^ Wimbledon Players Archive Christine Truman
  7. ^ Robertson, Max (1974). The Encyclopedia of Tennis. London: Allen & Unwin. pp. 270, 271. ISBN 9780047960420.
  8. ^ "Christine Truman Partially Blind, Mom Confirms". Star-News. UPI. 3 July 1962.
  9. ^ Daily Telegraph, March 31, 1964
  10. ^ a b Blast from the Past tennis archive
  11. ^ Lawn Tennis and Badminton, April 1, 1965
  12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ British Lawn Tennis September 1965
  14. ^ Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 703. ISBN 978-0-942257-41-0.
  15. ^ "Miss Truman marries at 26". The Age. 5 December 1967.
  16. ^ "My husband's dementia fight: Tennis legend Christine Truman Janes on partner's 'slippery road' to illness". 16 September 2018.
  17. ^ United Kingdom "No. 56237". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 16 June 2001. p. 18.
  18. ^ "Tennis ace serves up a new writing career". Norwich Evening News 24. Eastern Daily Press. 11 June 2011. Archived from the original on 1 January 2012.
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