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Pauline Betz

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Pauline Betz
Betz in 1949
Full namePauline Betz Addie
ITF namePauline Addie
Country (sports) United States
BornPauline May Betz
(1919-08-06)August 6, 1919
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
DiedMay 31, 2011(2011-05-31) (aged 91)
Potomac, Maryland, U.S.
Height5 ft 5 in (1.66 m)
Turned pro1947
Retired1960[1]
Int. Tennis HoF1965 (member page)
Singles
Career record0–0
Highest rankingNo. 1 (1946)
Grand Slam singles results
French OpenF (1946)
WimbledonW (1946)
US OpenW (1942, 1943, 1944, 1946)
Doubles
Career record0–0
Grand Slam doubles results
French OpenF (1946)
WimbledonF (1946)
US OpenF (1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French OpenW (1946)
US OpenF (1941, 1943)
Team competitions
Wightman CupW (1946)

Pauline Betz Addie (née Pauline May Betz, August 6, 1919 – May 31, 2011) was an American professional tennis player. She won five Grand Slam singles titles and was the runner-up on three other occasions. Jack Kramer called her the second best female tennis player he ever saw, behind Helen Wills Moody.[2]

Early life

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Betz attended Los Angeles High School and learned her tennis from Dick Skeen. She continued her tennis and education at Rollins College (graduating in 1943),[3][4][5][6] where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Betz earned an MA in economics from Columbia University.[7][8]

Career

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Amateur

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Betz won the first of her four singles titles at the U.S. Championships in 1942, saving a match point in the semifinals against Margaret Osborne while trailing 3–5 in the final set.[9] The following year, she won the Tri-State tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio, defeating Catherine Wolf in the final without losing a point in the first set,[9] a "golden set". She won the Wimbledon singles title in 1946, the only time she entered the tournament, without losing a set.[9] At the 1946 French Championships, held that year after Wimbledon, she lost the final in three sets to Margaret Osborne after failing to convert two match points.[10]

According to John Olliff, Betz was ranked world no. 1 in 1946 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945).[10] She was included in the year-end top 10 rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association from 1939 through 1946. She was the top ranked U.S. player from 1942 through 1944 and in 1946.[11] Her other career singles highlights include winning the Dixie International Championships three times (1940–1942).

Professional

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Her amateur career ended in 1947 when the USLTA revoked her amateur status for exploring the possibilities of turning professional.[9][12][13][14] Betz played two professional tours of matches against Sarah Palfrey Cooke (1947) and Gussie Moran (1951).[10] A professional tour against Maureen Connolly was planned for 1955, but did not materialize due to Connolly's career-ending injury.[15]

Pauline Betz won the Cleveland Women's World Professional Championships in 1953, 1955, and 1956, defeating Doris Hart, the reigning U.S. champion, in the 1956 final. In May 1956, she also played another match against Hart at Milwaukee, winning in two straight sets.

Death

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Betz died of complications linked to her contraction of Parkinson's disease on May 31, 2011. She is buried with her husband Bob Addie in a double plot in St Gabriel Cemetery in Potomac, Maryland.[16]

Awards and honors

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On September 2, 1946, Betz appeared on the cover of TIME magazine.[17][18] Betz was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965.[9] In 1995, she was inducted in the ITA Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame.[7] The Pauline Betz Addie Tennis Center at Cabin John Regional Park in Potomac, Maryland, was renamed in her honor on May 1, 2008. Addie, Albert Ritzenberg, and Stanly Hoffberger founded the center in 1972.[19]

Grand Slam finals

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Singles (5 titles, 3 runners-up)

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Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1941 U.S. Championships Grass United States Sarah Palfrey Cooke 5–7, 2–6
Win 1942 U.S. Championships Grass United States Louise Brough 4–6, 6–1, 6–4
Win 1943 U.S. Championships (2) Grass United States Louise Brough 6–3, 5–7, 6–3
Win 1944 U.S. Championships (3) Grass United States Margaret Osborne 6–3, 8–6
Loss 1945 U.S. Championships Grass United States Sarah Palfrey Cooke 6–3, 6–8, 4–6
Win 1946 Wimbledon Grass United States Louise Brough 6–2, 6–4
Loss 1946 French Championships Clay United States Margaret Osborne 6–2, 6–8, 5–7
Win 1946 U.S. Championships (4) Grass United States Doris Hart 11–9, 6–3

Doubles: 7 (7 runner-ups)

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Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1941 U.S. Championships Grass United States Dorothy Bundy United States Sarah Palfrey
United States Margaret Osborne		 6–3, 1–6, 4–6
Loss 1942 U.S. Championships Grass United States Doris Hart United States Louise Brough
United States Margaret Osborne		 6–2, 5–7, 0–6
Loss 1943 U.S. Championships Grass United States Doris Hart United States Louise Brough
United States Margaret Osborne		 4–6, 3–6
Loss 1944 U.S. Championships Grass United States Doris Hart United States Louise Brough
United States Margaret Osborne		 6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Loss 1945 U.S. Championships Grass United States Doris Hart United States Louise Brough
United States Margaret Osborne		 3–6, 3–6
Loss 1946 Wimbledon Grass United States Doris Hart United States Louise Brough
United States Margaret Osborne		 3–6, 6–2, 3–6
Loss 1946 French Championships Clay United States Doris Hart United States Louise Brough
United States Margaret Osborne		 4–6, 6–0, 1–6

Mixed Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

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Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1941 U.S. Championships Grass United States Bobby Riggs United States Sarah Palfrey
United States Jack Kramer		 6–4, 4–6, 4–6
Loss 1943 U.S. Championships Grass United States Pancho Segura United States Margaret Osborne
United States Bill Talbert		 8–10, 4–6
Win 1946 French Championships Clay United States Budge Patty United States Dorothy Bundy
United States Tom Brown		 7–5, 9–7

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
Tournament 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 19461 Career SR
Australian Championships A A NH NH NH NH NH A 0 / 0
French Championships A NH R R R R A F 0 / 1
Wimbledon A NH NH NH NH NH NH W 1 / 1
U.S. Championships 1R QF F W W W F W 4 / 8
SR 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 1 / 1 1 / 1 1 / 1 0 / 1 2 / 3 5 / 10

R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.

1In 1946, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.

Personal life

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In 1949, Betz published an autobiography titled Wings on my Tennis Shoes.[20][18] That same year she married Bob Addie, born Addonizio, a sportswriter for the Washington Times-Herald and Washington Post.[1][9] The couple had five children, including poet and novelist Kim Addonizio, Rusty, Gary, Jon and Rick.[1][13] Her granddaughter Aya Cash is an actress. Betz died in her sleep on May 31, 2011, aged 91.[1]

Records

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Tournament Year Record accomplished Player tied
Tri-State tournament 1943 Achieved a Golden Set[21] Tine Scheuer-Larsen (1995)
Yaroslava Shvedova (2012)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Robin Finn (June 2, 2011). "Pauline Betz Addie, a Dominant Tennis Champion, Dies at 91". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Female players & the 1950–51 Pauline Betz-Gussy Moran tour
  3. ^ "ITA Women's Hall of Fame..." ITA Women's Hall of Fame McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center, William & Mary College. Archived from the original on August 23, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  4. ^ "Rollins College Athletics Hall of Fame". Rollins College Athletics Department. Archived from the original on May 28, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  5. ^ "Rollins College Women's Tennis: Small School With A Big Tradition". Sports Then and Now. August 25, 2009. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  6. ^ "Tennis-Women's: Tradition". Rollins College Athletics Department. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  7. ^ a b "Pauline Betz Addie". Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).
  8. ^ Harold Parrott (September 7, 1943). "Hunt, blocked by Riggs, emulates dad as champion". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Pauline May Betz profile (Addie), tennisfame.com; accessed November 25, 2016.
  10. ^ a b c Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 702. ISBN 978-0-942257-41-0.
  11. ^ United States Tennis Association (1988). 1988 Official USTA Tennis Yearbook. Lynn, Massachusetts: H.O. Zimman, Inc. pp. 260–1.
  12. ^ "Pauline Betz". The Telegraph. June 5, 2011.
  13. ^ a b Richard Evans (June 20, 2011). "Pauline Betz obituary". The Guardian.
  14. ^ "Betz undecided on future plans". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. AP. April 10, 1947. p. 13.
  15. ^ "Connolly v. Pre-Mixed Concrete Co".
  16. ^ Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More than 14000 Famous Persons, Scott Wilson
  17. ^ "Pauline Betz". TIME.
  18. ^ a b Martin Childs (June 17, 2011). "Pauline Betz: Grand slam-winning tennis player banned for merely considering turning professional". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022.
  19. ^ "Pauline Betz Addie". Sidwell Friends School. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  20. ^ Wings on my tennis shoes. WorldCat. OCLC 717317192.
  21. ^ Politiken, 10 May 1995, 1st Section, p.10
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