Christine Truman

Christine Truman

Christine Truman Janes, MBE, (born 16 January 1941 in Woodford Green, United Kingdom), is a female former tennis player from the United Kingdom.

The British junior champion in 1956 and 1957, Truman made her Wimbledon debut in 1957 at age 16 and reached the semifinals, where she lost to Althea Gibson.

In 1958, she caused a sensation by defeating Gibson, the Wimbledon champion, in the Wightman Cup and helped bring the cup back to Great Britain after 21 consecutive defeats by the United States. A few weeks later at Wimbledon, however, as the second seed she was defeated in the fourth round by the American Mimi Arnold. That 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. (That record has since been broken by Steffi Graf in 1987, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 1989, and Monica Seles in 1990.) That year, by far her best, also saw her as the winner of the Italian Championships and runner-up at the U.S. Championships. She failed, however, to justify her top seeding at Wimbledon where she lost in the fourth round to the Mexican Yola Ramírez Ochoa. In doubles at Wimbledon, Truman partnered Beverly Baker Fleitz to reach the women's doubles final and with her brother Humphrey to reach the mixed doubles quarterfinals.

In 1960, she was the third seed at Wimbledon, where she lost in a semifinal to Maria Bueno in three sets. She teamed with Bueno to win the women's doubles title at the Australian Championships that year.

In 1961, she was the sixth seed at Wimbledon and defeated the second seed, Margaret Court, 3–6, 6–3, 9–7 in a quarterfinal after trailing 4–1 in the final set and saving two match points. She then beat Renee Schuurman Haygarth of South Africa in a semifinal 6–4, 6–4 before losing to fellow Britain Angela Mortimer in the final.

In 1972, Janes teamed with Winnie Shaw to reach the women's doubles final at the French Championships, where they lost to Billie Jean King and Betty Stöve 6–1, 6–2.

According to Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Janes was ranked in the world top ten from 1957 through 1961 and in 1965, reaching a career high of World No. 2 in those rankings in 1959. She played Wightman Cup from 1957 through 1971 (winning the cup in 1958, 1960, and 1968). She also played Federation Cup in 1963, 1965, and 1968, posting a 6–3 singles record and a 2–2 doubles record.

In 1967 she married former Wasps player Gerry Janes. She retired from tennis in 1975 and became a commentator for BBC Radio the same year. In the 2001 Queen's Birthday's Honours list, she was awarded an MBE for her "services to sport".