Career
Mathieu is best remembered for winning the singles title at the French Championships in 1938 and 1939 and for reaching the final of that tournament an additional six times, in 1929, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, and 1937. In those finals, she lost three times to Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling, twice to Helen Wills Moody, and once to Margaret Scriven-Vivian.
Mathieu won 11 Grand Slam doubles championships: three women's doubles titles at Wimbledon (1933–34, 1937), six women's doubles titles at the French Championships (1933–34, 1936–39), and two mixed doubles titles at the French Championships (1937–38). She completed the rare triple at the French Championships in 1938, winning the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles titles.
Mathieu's 13 Grand Slam titles are second only to Suzanne Lenglen's 31 among French women.
According to Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Mathieu was ranked in the world top ten from 1929 through 1939 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of World No. 3 in those rankings in 1932.
During the Second World War, Mathieu was head of the Corps Féminin Français, the women branch of the Free French Forces, similar to the British Auxiliary Territorial Service.
She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006.
Read more about this topic: Simone Mathieu
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