Maureen Connolly

Maureen Catherine Connolly ( Little Mo ) ( born September 17, 1934 in San Diego, California, † June 21, 1969 in Dallas ) was an American tennis player.

As a child, Maureen Connolly loved the riding, but because her mother was unable to pay for the lessons, she began playing tennis. Due to their powerful play from the baseline, she won at the age of 14 years, 56 games in a row and the following year she became the youngest player to win the U.S. Championship of under-18s.

In 1951, she reached in her first appearance at the U.S. Open in Forest Hills the final, defeated 16 -year-old Shirley Fry and became the youngest winner of America's most important tournament. Because of their charisma, she was the darling of the media and one of the most popular people in the United States. She was honored with the 1951 to 1953 Sportsman of the Year Award from the Associated Press.

Connolly successfully defended her title in 1952 and won in the same year at Wimbledon. For 1953, she undertook a new coach, the captain of the Australian Davis Cup Team Harry Hopman. For the first time it occurred in all of the Grand Slam tournaments and became the first tennis player in the world, which won all Grand Slam tournaments in a year.

In 1954, she won the French Open and Wimbledon. On 20 July 1954 she was hit by a truck while riding and had to end her tennis career at the age of 19 years.

She was inducted into the Hall of Fame of tennis and in the Hall of Fame of the International Women's Sports.

Success at Grand Slam tournaments

In 1955 married Maureen Connolly Brinker Norman, a member of the equestrian team, which had represented the United States at the 1952 Olympics. They had two children together.

Connolly was the sport of tennis together and reported as a correspondent for several American and English newspapers of major U.S. tennis tournaments. In Texas, where she lived with her family, she founded with her husband the " Maureen Connolly Brinker Foundation " to promote young tennis players.

In 1966, she became ill with cancer and died after a long battle with the disease on 21 June 1969 at the age of only 34 years in Dallas.