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Little Mo: Maureen Connolly It was the finest of all female tennis careers, so brief, but so brilliant. For four years Maureen Catherine Connolly won everything, including the Grand Slam until injury forced her to quit the game before the age of 20.
Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova may take the modern day plaudits, but as British tennis writer Lance Tingay once stated: "Whenever a great player come along you have to ask: 'Could she have beaten Maureen?'" This was his standard, "In every case the answer is: 'I think not!'" Devastating from the baseline, she rarely ventured to the net, as her big-gun groundstrokes earned the Californian the nickname "Little Mo" (an allusion to "Big Mo" the U.S. battleship Missouri). At 5-foot-4-inches she was a cheerful and sporting competitor who won three successive Wimbledon's 1952-54 and U.S. Championships in 1951-53.
She grew up in San Diego, taught by Eleanor Tennant, a coach who had guided Alice Marble to become a world champion. Connolly won the 1949 and 1950 U.S. junior titles and managed to win a round in the senior's events both years before being knocked out. Soon thought she would have the world under her thumb. Fifteen years after Don Budge scored the first Grand Slam "Little Mo" completed the ladies first in 1953, winning all the major singes championships, for the loss of one set, in one calendar year. Following her Australian triumph over doubles partner Julie Sampson 6-3, 6-2 Connolly beat Doris Hart at the French 6-2, 6-4, at Wimbledon 8-7, 6-5 and on home soil 6-2, 6-4. That season she won 10 of 12 tournaments winning 62 matches and losing 2; her three French titles in 1954 made her the fourth of five players to score the Paris triple. After her early defeats as a raw 15 and 16 year-old in 1949 and 1950 at Forest Hills, she sailed through nine successive majors (three Wimbledon's, three U.S., two French and one Australian), unbeaten in 50 matches. No other great has measured up to that perfect record in majors. The closest to that were four other greats who won six straight: Budge 1937-38; Margaret Court 1969-70; Navratilova 1983-84 and Graf 1995-96. In the four years she contested Wightman Cup for America against Great Britain she was unbeaten in seven of her matches, between 1951-54. Her career was tragically over, not long after she won her last title the U.S. Clay singles and doubles in 1954. While riding horseback a truck severely injured the newly married Mrs Norman Brinker's leg. She recovered sufficiently to coach, helping a number of players wit their game, but always stated after the accident: "I knew immediately I'd never play tennis again."
Unfortunately she lived a further 15 years dying from cancer aged 34 on the 21st June 1969. Her memory is captured in the Maureen Connolly Trophy, an international competition between the United States and Great Britain for female Under-21 players. Grand Slam Record Australian Singles winner 1953; Doubles winner 1953; Mixed finalist 1953 French Singles 1953-54; Doubles winner 1954; Doubles finalist 1953; Mixed winner 1954; Mixed finalist 1953 Wimbledon Singles winner 1952-54; Doubles finalist 1952-53 U.S. Championships Singles winner 1951-53; Doubles finalist 1952 Tournament Record Italian Championships Singles winner 1954; Singles finalist 1953; Doubles winner 1953; Mixed winner 1954; Mixed finalist 1953 United States Whitman Cup team member
1951-54; winning side 1951-54
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