Biography
She was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma but moved to Beverly Hills, California when she was four years old. She was taught by Dick Skeen and had a classic forehand and backhand and a paralyzing American twist serve. She was one of the great volleyers in history. She won 13 titles at Wimbledon, 17 titles at the U.S. Championships, 3 titles at the French Championships, and 2 titles at the Australian Championships. Her 35 Grand Slam titles ties her with Doris Hart for fifth on the all-time list, behind only Margaret Court, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, and Margaret Osborne duPont.
Brough Clapp appeared in 21 of the 30 finals contested at Wimbledon from 1946 through 1955 in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles.
From 1942 through 1950, Brough Clapp and duPont won nine consecutive women's doubles titles at the U.S. Championships, which is the longest championship run in history in any event at any Grand Slam tournament. Brough Clapp and duPont did not play as a team at the U.S. Championships in 1951 or 1952 but in 1953, they returned to extend their record match winning streak to 41 before losing to Hart and Shirley Fry Irvin in the final, 6–2, 7–9, 9–7. Their career record as a team at the U.S. Championships was 58–2, winning 12 of the 14 times they entered the tournament and losing only five sets in those 14 years.
Brough Clapp appeared in six singles finals at the U.S. Championships, but won only in 1947. She had a match point at 6–5 in the third set of the 1948 final against duPont. She also had three match points in the 1954 final against Hart, the first at 5–4 in the third set and two more at 6–5 in that set.
According to John Olliff and Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Brough Clapp was ranked in the world top 10 from 1946 through 1957 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of world no. 1 in those rankings in 1955. She was included in the year-end top 10 rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) from 1941 through 1950 and from 1952 through 1957. She was the top ranked U.S. player in 1947. Her 16 years in the USLTA top 10 trails only King (18 years) and Chris Evert (19 years).
She was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1967.
Read more about this topic: Louise Brough
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