Molla Mallory

Anna Margrethe "Molla" Bjurstedt Mallory ( Bjurstedt; 6 March 1884 – 22 November 1959) was a Norwegian-American tennis player, at one time ranked number 2 in the world. She won a record eight singles titles at the U.S. National Championships. She was the first woman to represent Norway at the Olympics.

Tennis career Although she had won a bronze medal in singles for Norway at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, and was the many-time champion of her homeland, Mallory was relatively unknown when she arrived in New York City to begin work as a masseuse in 1915. She entered the U.S. Indoor Championships that year unheralded, and beat Marie Wagner 6–4, 6–4, which was the first of her five singles titles at that tournament.

She held that a woman could not sustain a volleying attack in a long match.

Lenglen avenged the loss by defeating Mallory 6–2, 6–0 in 26 minutes in the 1922 Wimbledon final, the shortest final in a Grand Slam tournament on record. Lenglen reportedly said to Mallory after the match, "Now, Mrs. Mallory, I have proved to you today what I could have done to you in New York last year", to which Mallory replied, "Mlle. Lenglen, you have done to me today what I did to you in New York last year; you have beaten me." However, Kathleen McKane Godfree has said that Lenglen denied this exchange. Lenglen claimed that she merely said "thank you" to Mallory and coughed suggestively behind her hand. This was to remind Mallory that she – Lenglen – had indeed had whooping cough in their New York match the previous year. The two played for the last time that summer in Nice, France, with Lenglen winning 6–0, 6–0. This completed the head-to-head rivalry between the players, with Lenglen winning their first match at the 1921 World Hard Court Championships 6–3, 6–2, after which Mallory said about Lenglen, "She is just the steadiest player that ever was. She just sent back at me whatever I sent at her and waited for me to make a fault. And her returns often enough were harder than the shots I sent up to her."

Mallory won the singles title at the U.S. Championships a record eight times in 15 attempts, winning the last of her titles at the age of 42, in 1926. Her worst finish there was a quarterfinal loss in 1927, when she was 43. In 1926, Mallory hit one of the heights of her career when she came back from 0–4 in the third set of the final against Elizabeth Ryan, saving a match point in winning her eighth championship. She was ranked in the U.S. top 10 for 13 consecutive years from 1915 through 1928 (no rankings were issued in 1917) and was top-ranked from 1915 through 1922 and in 1926.

Mallory was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1958.

In 1916, she co-wrote the book Tennis for Women with Samuel Crowther.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 11 (8 titles, 3 runners-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScoreWin 1915 U.S. National Championships Grass Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman 4–6, 6–2, 6–0Win 1916 U.S. National Championships Grass Louise Hammond Raymond 6–0, 6–1Win 1917 U.S. National Championships Grass Marion Vanderhoef 4–6, 6–0, 6–2Win 1918 U.S. National Championships Grass Eleanor Goss 6–4, 6–3Win 1920 U.S. National Championships Grass Marion Zinderstein 6–3, 6–1Win 1921 U.S. National Championships Grass Mary Browne 4–6, 6–4, 6–2Loss 1922 Wimbledon Grass Suzanne Lenglen 2–6, 0–6Win 1922 U.S. National Championships Grass Helen Wills 6–3, 6–1Loss 1923 U.S. National Championships Grass Helen Wills 2–6, 1–6Loss 1924 U.S. National Championships Grass Helen Wills 1–6, 3–6Win 1926 U.S. National Championships Grass Elizabeth Ryan 4–6, 6–4, 9–7

Doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runners-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1916 U.S. National Championships Grass Eleonora Sears Louise Hammond Raymond Edna Wildey 4–6, 6–2, 10–8Win 1917 U.S. National Championships Grass Eleanora Sears Phyllis Walsh Grace Moore LeRoy 6–2, 6–4Loss 1918 U.S. National Championships Grass Anna Rogge Eleanor Goss Marion Zinderstein 5–7, 6–8Loss 1922 U.S. National Championships Grass Edith Sigourney Helen Wills Marion Zinderstein 4–6, 9–7, 3–6

Mixed doubles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runners-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1915 U.S. National Championships Grass Irving Wright Harry Johnson Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman 0–6, 1–6Win 1917 U.S. National Championships Grass Irving Wright Bill Tilden Florence Ballin 10–12, 6–1, 6–3Loss 1918 U.S. National Championships Grass Fred Alexander Irving Wright Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman 2–6, 3–6Loss 1920 U.S. National Championships Grass Craig Biddle Wallace Johnson Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman 4–6, 3–6Loss 1921 U.S. National Championships Grass Bill Tilden Bill Johnston Mary Browne 6–3, 4–6, 3–6Win 1922 U.S. National Championships Grass Bill Tilden Howard Kinsey Helen Wills 6–4, 6–3Win 1923 U.S. National Championships Grass Bill Tilden John Hawkes Kitty McKane 6–3, 2–6, 10–8Loss 1924 U.S. National Championships Grass Bill Tilden Vincent Richards Helen Wills 8–6, 5–7, 0–6

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

R = tournament restricted to French nationals.

1Through 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.

Personal life She was the daughter of Major Axel Johan Bjurstedt (born 1848) and Anna Benedicte Jenssen (born 1854); Anna Benedicte was the daughter of landowner Benedict Jenssen.

On 3 September 1919, she married stockbroker Franklin Mallory in New York City.