Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman - Career Highlights

Career Highlights

Wightman dominated American women's tennis before World War I and had an unparalleled reputation for sportsmanship. Wightman won a lifetime total of 45 U.S. titles, the last at age 68. She won 16 titles overall at the U.S. Championships, four of them in singles (1909–11, 1919). Nine of her titles at the U.S. Championships came in 1909–11, when she swept the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles competitions three consecutive years.

Wightman is known as the "Queen Mother of American Tennis" or "Lady Tennis" for her lifelong participation in and promotion of women's tennis and because she was instrumental in organizing the Ladies International Tennis Challenge between British and American women's teams, better known as the Wightman Cup. The Cup was first held in 1923 and continued through 1989. She played five years on the American team and was the captain of the American team from inception of the competition through 1948. The Cup was composed of five singles and two doubles matches. The cup itself was donated in 1923 by Wightman in honor of her husband. The first contest, at Forest Hills, New York on August 11 and 13, 1923, was won by the United States.

Born during the early days of American tennis, Wightman was a frail and awkward child. Her doctor recommended that she take up a sport to strengthen herself. Her brother suggested tennis as it was considered a "genteel" sport. Wightman learned to play at the nearby courts of the University of California, Berkeley where she graduated in 1911. Her rivalry with fellow Californian, May Sutton, shaped a new women's game, with Wightman attacking the net to counter Sutton's dominating forehand.

Wightman was the mother of five children and devoted herself to teaching other young people, opening her home near Boston's Longwood Cricket Club to aspiring champions. In recognition of Wightman's contributions to tennis, the USTA Service Bowl was donated in her honor. In 1973, Queen Elizabeth II named Wightman an honorary Commander of the British Empire.

• 17 Grand Slam titles (4 singles, 7 women's doubles, 6 mixed doubles)
• Won all three titles at the U.S. Championships: 1909–1911
• Won singles title at the U.S. Championships: 1909–1911, 1919
• Runner-up in singles at the U.S. Championships: 1915
• Won women's doubles title at the U.S. Championships: 1909–1911, 1915, 1924, 1928
• Runner-up in women's doubles at the U.S. Championships: 1919, 1923
• Won mixed doubles title at the U.S. Championships: 1909–1911, 1915, 1918, 1920
• Runner-up in mixed doubles at the U.S. Championships: 1926
• Won women's doubles title at Wimbledon: 1924
• Olympic gold medalist in women's doubles and mixed doubles: 1924
• Won singles title at the U.S. Indoor Championships: 1919, 1927
• Won women's doubles title at the U.S. Indoor Championships: 1919, 1921, 1924, 1927–1931, 1933, 1943
• Runner-up in women's doubles at the U.S. Indoor Championships: 1923, 1926, 1932, 1941, 1946
• Won mixed doubles title at the U.S. Indoor Championships: 1923, 1924, 1926–1928
• Won doubles title at the U.S. Grass Court Championships (for age 40 and over): 1940–1942, 1944, 1946–1950, 1952, 1954
• U.S. Wightman Cup team member: 1923, 1924, 1927, 1929, 1931
• U.S. Wightman Cup team captain: 1923, 1924, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937–1939, 1946–1948
• Winner of USTA Service Bowl, donated in Wightman's honor: 1940, 1946
• Author of Better Tennis
• Coached several women champions, including Sarah Palfrey Cooke, Helen Wills Moody, and Helen Jacobs
• Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1957
• Named Honorary Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973
• Inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1986
• First honoree in the University of California women's athlete hall of fame