Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman

Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss Wightman, CBE ( Hotchkiss; December 20, 1886 – December 5, 1974) was an American tennis player and founder of the Wightman Cup, an annual team competition for British and American women. She dominated American women's tennis before World War I and won 45 U.S. titles during her life.

Personal life Wightman was born Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss in Healdsburg, California, to William Joseph and Emma Lucretia (Grove) Hotchkiss. In February 1912, at the age of 25, she married George W. Wightman of Boston. Her father-in-law, George Henry Wightman, was a leader in the steel industry, as an associate of Andrew Carnegie, and one of the country's foremost pioneers of amateur tennis.

She became a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of California, Berkeley and served as the chapter's president.

Wightman was the mother of five children. She died at her home in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts on December 5, 1974, aged 87.

In 1973, Queen Elizabeth II made her an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

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 from 1909 to 1911, 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 first was 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 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 devoted herself to teaching 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, Wightman was appointed as an honorary Commander of the Order 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 Appointed as an Honorary Commander of the Order 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

Career in depth

Though short in stature, Wightman anticipated and moved extremely well around a tennis court. She perfected her volleying style early, hitting the ball against the family home in Berkeley, California, where she grew up and graduated from the University of California. She refused to let the ball bounce because the yard was so uneven. She used to play against her four brothers and then the proud and spiky Sutton sisters.

Wightman was a shy, somewhat awed, and fascinated 22-year-old college girl when she arrived at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in 1909 for the U.S. Championships. She never before played on grass, but she used her attacking style and rock-ribbed volleying—she was the first woman to rely so heavily on the volley—to win the all-comers final over Louise Hammond 6–8, 6–1, 6–4 and then the title over 39-year-old Maud Barger-Wallach 6–0, 6–1. Wightman also won the women's doubles and mixed doubles titles that year.

In the 1910 Washington State Championships, Wightman won one of the few recorded "Golden Matches" in which the winner did not lose a point. She defeated a Miss Huiskamp (first name unknown).

Wightman successfully defended all three titles at the U.S. National Championships in 1910 and 1911. Wightman easily defeated Hammond in the 1910 singles final. May Sutton, an old West Coast rival and singles titlist at the U.S. Championships in 1904, pushed Wightman hard in the 1911 singles final before Wightman prevailed 8–10, 6–4, 9–7.

The most remarkable comeback in Wightman's career came at the singles final of the 1911 Niagara International Tennis Tournament against Sutton. After losing the first set 0–6 and going down 1–5 in the second, she won 12 straight games and the title 0–6, 7–5, 6–0.

Grand Slam finals Singles: 5 ( 4 titles, 1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScore Ref.Win 1909 U.S. National Championships Grass Maud Barger-Wallach 6–0, 6–1 Win 1910 U.S. National Championships Grass Louise Hammond Raymond 6–4, 6–2 Win 1910 U.S. National Championships Grass Edith Rotch Adelaide Browning Edna Wildey 6–4, 6–4 Win 1924 U.S. National Championships Grass Helen Wills Eleanor Goss Marion Zinderstein Jessup 6–4, 6–3 Win 1910 U.S. National Championships Grass Joseph Carpenter Edna Wildey Herbert M. Tilden 6–2, 6–2 Win 1911 U.S. National Championships Grass Wallace Johnson Edna Wildey Herbert M. Tilden 6–4, 6–4 Win 1915 U.S. National Championships Grass Harry Johnson Molla Bjurstedt Irving Wright 6–0, 6–1 Win 1918 U.S. National Championships Grass Irving Wright Molla Bjurstedt Fred Alexander 6–2, 6–3 Win 1920 U.S. National Championships Grass Wallace Johnson Molla Bjurstedt Mallory Craig Biddle 6–4, 6–3 Loss 1926 U.S. National Championships Grass René Lacoste Elizabeth Ryan Jean Borotra 4–6, 5–7 Loss 1927 U.S. National Championships Grass René Lacoste Eileen Bennett Henri Cochet 2–6, 6–0, 3–6

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

R = tournament restricted to French nationals. Through 1923, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. The World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussels, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from that tournament are shown here from 1912 through 1914 and from 1920 through 1923. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.