Maria Bueno

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Maria Ester Audion Bueno, born October 11, 1939, in São Paulo, Brazil, is a female tennis player who won nineteen Grand Slam titles (7 singles, 11 women's doubles, 1 mixed doubles) during her career.

Bueno began playing tennis at a very young age and, without having received any formal training, won her first tournament at age 12. She was 14 when she captured her country’s women's singles championship.

Joining the international circuit in 1958, Bueno won the singles title at the Italian Championships and the first of her Grand Slam titles, capturing the women's doubles at Wimbledon with Althea Gibson.

The following year, Bueno won her first singles title at Wimbledon, defeating Darlene Hard, 6-4, 6-3 in the final. She also won the singles title at the U.S. Championships, earning the No. 1 ranking for 1959 and the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award. Bueno was the first non-American woman to capture both Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships in the same calendar year. In her native Brazil, she returned as a national heroine, honored by the country’s president and given a ticker-tape parade on the streets of São Paulo.

According to the end-of-year rankings compiled by the London Daily Telegraph from 1914 through 1972, Bueno was ranked No. 1 in the world in 1959 and 1960. The International Tennis Hall of Fame also lists her as the top ranked player in 1964 (after losing the final at the French Championships and winning both Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships) and 1966.

Bueno won the singles title at Wimbledon three times and at the U.S. Championships four times. She was a singles finalist at the Australian Championships and the French Championships, losing both finals to Margaret Smith Court. Bueno reached at least the quarterfinals in each of the first 26 Grand Slam singles tournaments she played. This streak ended at Wimbledon in 1967 when she lost in the fourth round because of an arm injury.

As a doubles player, Bueno won twelve Grand Slam championships with six different partners. In 1960, she became the first woman to win the women's doubles title at all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same calendar year, partnered by Christine Truman Janes at the Australian Championships and Hard at the French Championships, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Championships.

In 1978, Bueno was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

At the 2006 U.S. Open, Maria Bueno was invited to attend the rededication ceremony of the USTA National Tennis Center as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, which took place on the first day of the event. Bueno and King were rivals in singles and, on occasion, doubles partners. According to Bueno, the only players invited were those who had won the U.S. Open "more than twice" (she won it 4 times). At the same event, Bueno debuted as a commentator for SporTv, the Brazilian cable television sports channel. She commentated on the women's singles semifinals and final and the men's singles final. She also offered opinions during the live broadcast of the USTA's induction of Martina Navrátilová and Don Budge in the "Court of Champions," as well as during day-end "round tables" in the last three days of the event.

Contents 1 Grand Slam finals (35) 1.1 Singles (12) 1.1.1 Wins (7) 1.1.2 Runners-up (5) 1.2 Doubles (23) 1.2.1 Women's doubles (16) 1.2.1.1 Wins (11) 1.2.1.2 Runners-up (5) 1.2.2 Mixed doubles (7) 1.2.2.1 Wins (1) 1.2.2.2 Runners-up (6) 2 Grand Slam singles tournament timeline 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Grand Slam finals (35)

Bueno won 19 and lost 16 of her Grand Slam finals. This represents a success rate of 54%.

[edit] Singles (12)

[edit] Wins (7)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1959	Wimbledon	Darlene Hard	6-4, 6-3
1959	U.S. Championships	Christine Truman Janes	6-1, 6-4
1960	Wimbledon (2)	Sandra Reynolds Price	8-6, 6-0
1963	U.S. Championships (2)	Margaret Smith Court	7-5, 6-4
1964	Wimbledon (3)	Margaret Smith Court	6-4, 7-9, 6-3
1964	U.S. Championships (3)	Carole Caldwell Graebner	6-1, 6-0
1966	U.S. Championships (4)	Nancy Richey Gunter	6-3, 6-1

[edit] Runners-up (5)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1960	U.S. Championships	Darlene Hard	6-4, 10-12, 6-4
1964	French Championships	Margaret Smith Court	5-7, 6-1, 6-2
1965	Australian Championships	Margaret Smith Court	5-7, 6-4, 5-2 retired
1965	Wimbledon	Margaret Smith Court	6-4, 7-5
1966	Wimbledon (2)	Billie Jean King	6-3, 3-6, 6-1

[edit] Doubles (23)

[edit] Women's doubles (16)

[edit] Wins (11)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score/Final
1958	Wimbledon	Althea Gibson	Margaret Osborne duPont Margret Varner	6-3, 7-5
1960	Australian Championships	Christine Truman Janes	Lorraine Coghlan Robinson Margaret Smith Court	6-2, 5-7, 6-2
1960	French Championships	Darlene Hard	Ann Haydon Jones Pat Ward Hales	6-2, 7-5
1960	Wimbledon (2)	Darlene Hard	Sandra Reynolds Price Renee Schuurman Haygarth	6-4, 6-0
1960	U.S. Championships	Darlene Hard	Ann Haydon Jones Deidre Catt	6-1, 6-1
1962	U.S. Championships (2)	Darlene Hard	Billie Jean King Karen Hantze Susman	4-6, 6-3, 6-2
1963	Wimbledon (3)	Darlene Hard	Margaret Smith Court Robyn Ebbern	8-6, 9-7
1965	Wimbledon (4)	Billie Jean King	Françoise Durr Jeanine Lieffrig	6-2, 7-5
1966	Wimbledon (5)	Nancy Richey Gunter	Margaret Smith Court Judy Tegart Dalton	6-3, 4-6, 6-4
1966	U.S. Championships (3)	Nancy Richey Gunter	Billie Jean King Rosemary Casals	6-3, 6-4
1968	U.S. Open (4)	Margaret Smith Court	Billie Jean King Rosmary Casals	4-6, 9-7, 8-6

[edit] Runners-up (5)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score/Final
1958	U.S. Championships	Althea Gibson	Jeanne Arth Darlene Hard	2-6, 6-3, 6-4
1959	U.S. Championships (2)	Sally Moore	Jeanne Arth Darlene Hard	6-2, 6-3
1961	French Championships	Darlene Hard	Sandra Reynolds Price Renee Schuurman Haygarth	walkover
1963	U.S. Championships (3)	Darlene Hard	Margaret Smith Court Robyn Ebbern	4-6, 10-8, 6-3
1967	Wimbledon	Nancy Richey Gunter	Rosemary Casals Billie Jean King	9-11, 6-4, 6-2

[edit] Mixed doubles (7)

[edit] Wins (1)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score/Final
1960	French Championships	Bob Howe	Ann Haydon Jones Roy Emerson	1-6, 6-1, 6-2

[edit] Runners-up (6)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score/Final
1958	U.S. Championships	Alex Olmedo	Margaret Osborne duPont Neale Fraser	6-3, 3-6, 9-7
1959	Wimbledon	Neale Fraser	Darlene Hard Rod Laver	6-4, 6-3
1960	Wimbledon (2)	Bob Howe	Darlene Hard Rod Laver	13-11, 3-6, 8-6
1960	U.S. Championships (2)	Antonio Palafox	Margaret Osborne duPont Neale Fraser	6-3, 6-2
1965	French Championships	John Newcombe	Margaret Smith Court Ken Fletcher	6-4, 6-4
1967	Wimbledon (3)	Ken Fletcher	Billie Jean King Owen Davidson	3-6, 6-2, 15-13

[edit] Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969-1975	1976	1977	Career SR
Australia	A	A	QF	A	A	A	A	F	A	A	A	A	A	A / A	0 / 2
France	SF	QF	SF	QF	A	A	F	SF	SF	QF	QF	A	1R	A	0 / 10
Wimbledon	QF	W	W	A	SF	QF	W	F	F	4R	QF	A	4R	3R	3 / 12
United States	QF	W	F	A	SF	W	W	SF	W	2R	SF	A	3R	2R	4 / 12
SR	0 / 3	2 / 3	1 / 4	0 / 1	0 / 2	1 / 2	2 / 3	0 / 4	1 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 0	0 / 3	0 / 2	7 / 36

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

[edit] See also

• Wimbledon champions (Ladies' Singles)
• Wimbledon champions (Ladies' Doubles)
• US Open champions (Women's Singles)
• US Open champions (Women's Doubles)
• Australian Open champions (Women's Doubles)
• French Open champions (Women's Doubles)
• French Open champions (Mixed Doubles)

[edit] External links

• International Tennis Hall of Fame profile
• Maria Bueno Website