Maria Bueno

Maria Ester Audion Bueno ( born October 11, 1939 in São Paulo ) is a former Brazilian tennis player.

Career

Bueno began early with playing tennis and won the age of 12 without having previously attended a regular tennis training, her first tournament. At 14, she was Brazilian champion. In 1958 she won the Italian Open, her first major tournament in singles and with Althea Gibson her first Grand Slam title in doubles. The next year she won her first Wimbledon singles title when she defeated the US-American Darlene Hard 6-4, 6-3. After that, she also won the U.S. Open and became the number 1 in women's tennis. In the same year she was honored with the Athlete of the Year Award from the Associated Press.

Maria Bueno was number 1 in the years 1959, 1960, 1964 and 1966. During this time, she won three times the title in Wimbledon and the U.S. Open four times. They also reached the final of the Australian Open and the French Open. Both finals she lost to Margaret Smith Court, its biggest rival in those years.

In 1960 she won the Grand Slam in doubles. 1978 Maria Bueno was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Grand Slam title

Singles

• Wimbledon: 1959, 1960, 1964
• U.S. Open: 1959, 1963, 1964, 1966

Doubles

• Australian Open: 1960
• French Open: 1960
• Wimbledon: 1958, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1966
• U.S. Open: 1960, 1962, 1966, 1968

Mixed

• French Open: 1960