Anita Lizana de Ellis was a World Number 1 tennis player from Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. She was the first Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

n, and first Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 person, to be ranked World Number 1 tennis player

World number one women tennis players

-1883-1920 rankings:1883-1920 rankings are more variable in nature because of limited sourcing.-1921–present:More recent rankings are much better sourced.-See also:* List of WTA number 1 ranked players* World number one male tennis player rankings...

. Also, Anita Lizana was the first Latin American to win a Grand Slam singles championship. She won the 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...

 in 1937, defeating Jadwiga Jędrzejowska

Jadwiga Jedrzejowska

Jadwiga Jedrzejowska was a Polish tennis player. Because her name was difficult to pronounce for many people who did not speak Polish, she was often called by the nicknames "Jed" or "Ja-Ja".Jedrzejowska reached the singles final of a Grand Slam tournament on three occasions, still a record for...

 in the final 6–4, 6–2.

Since Anita Lizana, the only other Latin American to be ranked World Number 1 in ladies tennis has been the legendary Maria Bueno

Maria Bueno

Maria Esther Andion Bueno is a former professional tennis player from Brazil. During her 11-year career , she won 19 Major titles ....

 of Brazil.

According to Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail

Daily Mail

The 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...

, she was ranked in the world top ten in 1936 and 1937 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of World No. 1 in those rankings in 1937.

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940	1941 - 1944	1945	19461	19471	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...	A	A	A	A	A	A	NH	NH	A	A	0 / 0
French Championships	3R	A	A	A	A	NH	R	A	A	A	0 / 1
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...	3R	QF	QF	2R	2R	NH	NH	NH	A	2R	0 / 6
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...	A	A	W	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1 / 1
SR	0 / 2	0 / 1	1 / 2	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 1	1 / 8

NH = not held

R = 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 final
  Tennis 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...
  
  
• World number one women tennis players
  World number one women tennis players
  -1883-1920 rankings:1883-1920 rankings are more variable in nature because of limited sourcing.-1921–present:More recent rankings are much better sourced.-See also:* List of WTA number 1 ranked players* World number one male tennis player rankings...
  
  

External links

• Tennischile.com (Spanish site: her basic biography)