Françoise Durr
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Françoise Durr (born 25 December 1942, in Algiers, Algeria) is a former tennis player from France. She won 26 singles titles and 60 doubles titles. According to Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Bud Collins, and the Women's Tennis Association, Durr was ranked in the world top ten from 1965 through 1967, from 1970 through 1972, and from 1974 through 1976, reaching a career high of World No. 3 in those rankings in 1967.[1] She finished second to Billie Jean King in 1971 prize money earnings.
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[edit] Grand Slam tournaments
Durr is best remembered for winning the singles title at the 1967 French Championships. She defeated Maria Bueno in a quarterfinal before defeating Lesley Turner Bowrey in the final. In addition to her singles championship, Durr won seven Grand Slam women's doubles titles and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She was the runner-up in eleven Grand Slam women's doubles events and four Grand Slam mixed doubles events.
Durr won eight doubles titles at the French Championships. The first of Durr's record-tying five consecutive women's doubles titles was in 1967. (The record is shared with Martina Navratilova and Gigi Fernandez, with separate partners.) Durr teamed with Ann Haydon Jones to win the titles in 1968 and 1969 and with Gail Sherriff Chanfreau in 1967, 1970, and 1971. Durr was the runner-up in women's doubles in 1965 with Jeanine Lieffrig, in 1973 with Betty Stove, and in 1979 with Virginia Wade. Durr teamed with Jean Claude Barclay to win the mixed doubles title in 1968, 1971, and 1973. They were runners-up in 1969, 1970, and 1972.
Durr won two doubles titles at the US Open. She won the women's doubles title in 1969 with Darlene Hard and in 1972 with Stove. Durr was the runner-up in that event in 1971 with Chanfreau and in 1974 with Stove. Durr was the runner-up in mixed doubles in 1969, teaming with Dennis Ralston.
She won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 1976 with Tony Roche. She was the runner-up in women's doubles at Wimbledon in 1965 with Lieffrig, 1968 with Jones, 1970 with Wade, 1972 with Judy Tegart Dalton, and 1973 and 1975 with Stove.
[edit] Grand Slam singles win
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1967 | French Championships |  Lesley Turner Bowrey |
4–6, 6–3, 6–4 |
[edit] Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
| Tournament | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | A | A | A | A | A | QF | A | QF | A | 2R | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A / A | A | A | 0 / 3 |
| France | 3R | 3R | 4R | 4R | 2R | QF | QF | W | 4R | 3R | 3R | QF | SF | SF | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 1 / 15 |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | 2R | 2R | 4R | QF | 3R | QF | 2R | SF | QF | QF | 4R | 3R | 2R | 4R | 3R | 3R | 2R | 0 / 17 |
| United States | A | A | 3R | A | 3R | QF | QF | SF | 3R | 3R | QF | 3R | 3R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 4R | 1R | A | 1R | 0 / 16 |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 1 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 1 / 51 |
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.
[edit] Other tournaments and team competitions
Durr was Junior Singles Champion at Roland garros in 1959 and 1960 .
Durr was French Singles Champion in the National closed Championship 1962 1964 1965 and 1966 .
Durr was French National Champion in Ladies Doubles 8 times between 1961 - 1970 with various partners .
Durr was French National Champion 5 times in Mixed Doubles between 1964 - 1970 mainly partnered by Jean Claude Barclay .
Durr won the Wimbledon Ladies Plate in 1963 .
Durr won the South African singles in 1965 . Other singles titles in 1965 - Turkish in Istanbul , San Moritz , Swiss Open , Caracas , Columbia and Montecarlo .
Durr defeated Judy Tegart in the final to win the 1966 British Grass Court Championship at Queens Club London . Other singles titles in 1966 - Dutch Open , Swiss Open successfully defended and Perth Western Australia .
Durr won the German Open singles in 1967 . Other singles titles in 1967 - Pacific Southwest , Kitzbuehel , New Zealand Open , Kingston and Bastad .
Durr won the Swiss Open singles in 1969 .
Durr won the 1969 Italian Open Doubles with Ann Jones .
Durr was defeated in the final of the 1970 Swiss Open in Gstaad 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 by Rosemary Casals .
Durr won the 1970 British Indoor championship singles at the Albert Hall London .
Durr defeated the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–4, 6–2 to win the 1971 Canadian Open. Durr also won the doubles event .
Durr defeated Billie Jean King 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to win the 1971 International Tennis Championship at Fort Lauderdale Florida .
Durr defeated Lesley Hunt 6-3, 6-3 to win the 1971 Swiss Open in Gstaad - the last of her 4 Swiss Open wins .
Durr defeated Billie Jean King in the final 6-3, 6-0 to win the 1971 New Zealand International Grass Court Championships in Christchurch .
Durr defeated Billie Jean King 6-4, 6-2 in the final to win the 1971 Clay Court International Championship at Lake Bluff Chicago Illinois .
Durr lost 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 to Billie Jean King in the final of the 1971 Embassy British Indoor Championship at Wembley London .
Durr lost 6-3, 7-5 to Virginia Wade in the final of the 1972 USA Indoor Championship in Boston .
Durr defeated Rosemary Casals 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 to win the 1973 Virginia Slims Championship of Houston .
Durr lost in the final of the 1975 Swedish Open in Stockholm to Virginia Wade 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 .
Durr and Stove defeated Wade and Goolagong 6-3, 6-4 to win the 1975 Swedish Open Doubles Championship .
Durr defeated Martina Navratilova (who was then ranked number 2 in the world) 6-1, 6-1 at Palm Springs in the semi-final of the Colgate Inaugural singles Championship 1976 . Durr was beaten in the final by Chris Evert . Four months earlier at Wimbledon Durr had lost to Navratilova in the 4th Round of the singles 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 having held match points .
Durr and Wade won the 1977 Colgate Series Championship Doubles at Palm Springs defeating Helen Gourlay-Cawley and Joanne Russell 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the final .
Durr lost in the final of the 1978 World Tennis Classic in Montreal to Caroline Stoll 6-3, 6-2 .
Durr and Stove won the 1979 Avon Masters in New York defeating Barker and Kiyomura 7-6, 7-6 .
Durr and Stove won the 1979 Bridgetown World Doubles Championship defeating Barker and Kiyomura 7-5, 7-6 .
Durr won over 60 major doubles titles in her career with various partners and featured in many more finals and semi- finals . Durr featured in more major singles finals and semi finals in a career spanning more than 20 years . She was French Number 1 for almost all that time .
Durr was an integral member of France's Fed Cup team in 1963-1967, 1970, 1972, and 1977-1979. Her career win-loss record was 16-8 in singles and 15-9 in doubles.
Durr was the first woman to play 100 events on the Virginia Slims Tour ( 1978 ) .
Durr Jones King and Casals were the first women to sign professional contracts and organise their own tours at the start of the open era in 1968 . The lucrative game of today and its players owe a lot to them .
Durr played consistently on the World Team Tennis circuit 1974 - 1978 .
[edit] Trivia
- Durr played with unorthodox grips and strokes.
- Durr was the first woman to travel the tennis circuit with her dog, named Topspin, who became a star by carrying Durr's racquet onto court.
- Durr was the first woman to wear halter neck backless dresses on the circuit notably at Wimbledon . She also wore knee high tube pattern coloured socks with shorts 30 years before Serena Williams did .
- Durr wore coloured matching accessories with her chic stylish dresses which also always pushed the white rule at Wimbledon as far as it could go until in 1978 before her match with Betty Stove she was asked to change . Her outfit featured too much colour and was deemed unacceptable . She came back on court and promptly hit three winners in a row but lost the match .
- Once in a match becoming tired of seeing a relative on the sidelines gesticulating to her opponent Durr called the opponent to the net and told her that her mother wanted her to play to her ( Durr's ) backhand . ( Not advisable )
- Another time when there was a disputed point at the end of a game and her opponent was still on court protesting Durr had gone promptly and sat down totally ignoring it all and claiming the game .
- Durr's tennis strokes would sometimes require her to virtually sit for a low back hand or kneel on one knee on court for a pass down the line . Many moves and the serve were totally unique . It was slow but spun and looped deep into the box it was effective enough in keeping the opponent back and often could bounce awkwardly making it harder to deal with than it looked .
- The French Ivory Coast ( Cote D'Ivoire ) issued a postage stamp of Francoise Durr on court playing the ( kneeling on one knee almost ) pass down the line .
- When something did not go as planned Durr would learn risque words with which to chastise herself - in the language of the country in which she was playing .
[edit] Career and awards after retiring from the tour
In 1993, Durr was appointed the first Technical Director of Women's Tennis for the French Tennis Federation (FFT). She was the captain of the French Fed Cup team from 1993 through 1996 and the co-captain of the team with Yannick Noah in 1997 when they won the competition. She retired from the FFT in February 2002[2].
Durr received the WTA Tour's Honorary Membership Award in 1988 for her contributions to the founding, development, and direction of women's professional tennis. In 2003, Durr was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She received the Fed Cup Award of Excellence in 2005, presented jointly by the International Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 703-4. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
- ^ "Françoise Dürr's retirement from the FFT archives" (in French). Fédération Française de Tennis. http://www.fft.fr/web2001/FFTnews/2002/Fevrier/1/durr.html. Retrieved 2007-02-03.
[edit] External links
- Françoise Durr profile on the WTA Tour's official website
- International Tennis Hall of Fame profile
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