Ann Haydon-Jones
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Ann Haydon-Jones, born Adrianne Shirley Haydon on October 7, 1938 in Birmingham, England, is a former table tennis and lawn tennis champion.
Her parents were prominent table tennis players and as a young girl she also took up the game but soon developed into a powerful lawn tennis player, winning the 1954 British junior championship, repeating again in 1955.
She played lawn tennis in a highly competitive era that involved a number of the greatest female players to ever play the game including Billie Jean King, Margaret Smith Court and Maria Bueno. Despite the fierce competition, Ann Haydon won the 1961 French Open and made the finals at the US Open, losing to the defending US champion, Darlene Hard. In 1962, she married P. F. Jones and recorded as Ann Haydon-Jones, she won the French title for a second time in 1966.
At both the 1967 Wimbledon Championships and the US Open she made it to the finals but lost to Billie Jean King. However, two years later the two met in the Wimbledon finals again, this time Haydon-Jones took the most coveted title in the sport of tennis, making her the first left-handed female player to do so. She capped off the 1969 Wimbledon competition by winning the Mixed doubles championship with Australia's Fred Stolle. Her performances led to her being voted as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
According to Mark Lewisohn in "The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions", on July 4 1969, The Beatles paused the dubbing session for their song "Golden Slumbers", to listen to Jones beat Billie Jean King for the Wimbledon title, live on radio.
With the dawn of the open era in tennis, in 1968, Ann Haydon-Jones joined with Billie Jean King and others to became the first professional female touring group. In 1970 she was hired by the BBC as a guest commentator and today is a summarizer for the network.
In 1985, Ann Haydon-Jones was voted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Grand Slam tournament career record:
- French Open:
- Singles champion: 1961, 1966
- Singles finalist: 1963, 1968, 1969
- Doubles champion: 1963, 1968, 1969
- Doubles finalist: 1960
- Wimbledon Championships:
- Singles champion: 1969
- Singles finalist: 1967
- Mixed Doubles champion: 1969
- US Open:
- Singles finalist: 1961, 1967de:Ann Haydon-Jones