Darlene Hard
Encyclopedia
| Personal information |
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| Date of birth | 6 January 1936 (age 76) |
| Place of birth | Los Angeles Los Angeles, California Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California... , United States |
Darlene Hard (born January 6, 1936, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) is an American former amateur tennis
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...
player. Known for her volleying ability and strong serves, she captured singles titles at the French Championships in 1960 and the U.S. Championships in 1960 and 1961.
With eight different partners, she won a total of 13 women's doubles titles in 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...
tournaments. Her last doubles title, at the age of 33 at the 1969 US Open, came six years after she had retired from serious competition to become a tennis instructor. She also played the US Open singles tournament in 1969, losing in the second round to Françoise Durr
Françoise Durr
Françoise Durr is a retired tennis player from France. She won 26 major singles titles and over 60 doubles titles....
6–3, 6–3.
According to Lance Tingay 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...
, Hard was ranked among the top ten in the world from 1957 through 1963, reaching a career high of number 2 in those rankings in 1957, 1960, and 1961. Hard was included in the year-end top ten rankings issued 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...
from 1954 through 1963. She was the top-ranked U.S. player from 1960 through 1963.
Hard was enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The 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...
in 1973.
Hard once said, "I was the last of the amateurs. In our day, I won Forest Hills and got my airfare from New York to Los Angeles. Whoopee." But, she added, "I was happy. I loved it. I loved tennis."
She has worked for the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
since 1981.
Grand Slam record
- Australian Championships
- Women's Doubles runner-up: 1962
- Mixed Doubles runner-up: 1962
- French Championships
- Singles champion: 1960
- Women's Doubles champion: 1955, 1957, 1960
- Women's Doubles runner-up: 1956, 1961
- Mixed Doubles champion: 1955, 1961
- Mixed Doubles runner-up: 1956
- WimbledonThe Championships, 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...
- Singles runner-up: 1957, 1959
- Women's Doubles champion: 1957, 1959, 1960, 1963
- Mixed Doubles champion: 1957, 1959, 1960
- Mixed Doubles runner-up: 1963
- U.S. Championships/Open
- Singles champion: 1960, 1961
- Singles runner-up: 1958, 1962
- Women's Doubles champion: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1969
- Women's Doubles runner-up: 1957, 1963
- Mixed Doubles runner-up: 1956, 1957, 1961
Wins (3)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in final | Score in final |
| 1960 | French Championships |  Yola Ramírez OchoaYola Ramírez Yola Ramírez was an internationally renowned tennis player in the 1950s and 1960s.-Career:Ramírez was a singles finalist at the French Championships in 1960 and 1961. She lost the 1960 final to Darlene Hard and the 1961 final to Ann Haydon Jones, both International Tennis Hall of Fame enshrinees... |
6–3, 6–4 |
| 1960 | U.S. Championships |  Maria BuenoMaria Bueno Maria Esther Andion Bueno is a former professional tennis player from Brazil. During her 11-year career , she won 19 Major titles .... |
6–4, 10–12, 6–4 |
| 1961 | U.S. Championships |  Ann Haydon Jones |
6–3, 6–4 |
Runner-ups (4)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in final | Score in final |
| 1957 | 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... |
 Althea GibsonAlthea Gibson Althea 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... |
6–3, 6–2 |
| 1958 | U.S. Championships | Althea Gibson |
3–6, 6–1, 6–2 |
| 1959 | Wimbledon |  Maria BuenoMaria Bueno Maria Esther Andion Bueno is a former professional tennis player from Brazil. During her 11-year career , she won 19 Major titles .... |
6–4, 6–3 |
| 1962 | U.S. Championships |  Margaret Court |
9–7, 6–4 |
Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
| Tournament | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 - 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 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 | A | A | A | QF | A | A | A | A | 0 / 1 |
| French Championships | A | A | 2R | 3R | QF | A | A | W | 4R | A | 2R | A | A | A | 1 / 6 |
| 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 | SF | 3R | F | A | F | QF | A | QF | SF | A | A | A | 0 / 7 |
| United States | 2R | SF | 3R | QF | SF | F | SF | W | W | F | QF | A | 2R | 2R | 2 / 13 |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 2 | 2 / 3 | 1 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 3 / 27 |
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
- 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...