Molla Mallory

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" class="adr" | Representing Norway

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" | Women's Tennis

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1912 Stockholm || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Singles |}

Anna Margarethe "Molla" Bjurstedt Mallory (March 6, 1884 in Oslo – November 22, 1959 in Stockholm) was a Norwegian-born American tennis player.

Tennis career

Although she had won a bronze medal in singles for Norway at the 1912 Olympic games in Stockholm, and was the many-time champion of her homeland, Mallory was relatively unknown when she arrived in New York City to begin work as a masseuse in 1915. She entered the U.S. Indoor Championships that year unheralded and beat three-time defending champion Marie Wagner 6–4, 6–4, which was the first of her five singles titles at that tournament. She also won the title in Cincinnati in 1912.

Mallory had less in the way of stroke equipment than most tennis champions. But the sturdy, Norwegian-born woman, the daughter of an army officer, was a fierce competitor, running with limitless endurance. Robert (Bob) Kelleher, a former president of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and a ball boy during Mallory's era, once said, "She looked and acted tough when she was on the court hitting tennis balls. She walked around in a manner that said you'd better look out or she'd deck you. She was an indomitable scrambler and runner. She was a fighter."

She was a player of the old school. She held that a woman could not sustain a volleying attack in a long match. "I do not know a single girl who can play the net game." Therefore, she relied on her baseline game, consisting of strong forehand attacks and a ceaseless defense that wore down her opponents. She took the ball on the rise and drove it from corner to corner to keep her opponent on the constant run. Her quick returns made her passing shots extremely effective. She once said, "I find that the girls generally do not hit the ball as hard as they should. I believe in always hitting the ball with all my might, but there seems to be a disposition to 'just get it over' in many girls whom I have played. I do not call this tennis."

Her second round match with Suzanne Lenglen at the U.S. Championships in 1921 brought Mallory her greatest celebrity. Before the match, Bill Tilden advised Mallory to "hit the cover off the ball." Once the match began, Mallory "attacked with a vengeance" and was ahead 2–0 (40-0) when Lenglen began to cough. Mallory won the first set 6–2 and was up 40-0 on Lenglen's serve in the first game of the second set when Lenglen began to weep and walked to the umpire's stand and informed the official that she was ill and could not continue. This match ranks among the most sensational dramas ever recorded on the tennis court. After the match, the USTA accused Lenglen of feigning illness. The French Tennis Federation (FTF) exonerated Lenglen and accepted her testimony (and a doctor's) that she had been ill. However, Albert de Joannis, vice president of the FTF who accompanied Lenglen during her trip to the United States, quit his post in protest of the FTF's conclusion. He claimed that Lenglen was "perfectly fit" during the match and that, "She was defeated by a player who on that date showed a better brand of tennis."

Lenglen avenged the loss by defeating Mallory 6–2, 6–0 in 35 minutes in the 1922 Wimbledon final, still the fastest major match on record. Lenglen reportedly said to Mallory after the match, "Now, Mrs. Mallory, I have proved to you today what I could have done to you in New York last year," to which Mallory replied, "Mlle. Lenglen, you have done to me today what I did to you in New York last year; you have beaten me." However, Kathleen McKane Godfree has said that Lenglen denied this exchange. Lenglen claimed that she merely said "thank you" to Mallory and coughed very suggestively behind an uplifted hand. This was to remind Mallory that she - Lenglen - had indeed had whooping cough in their New York match the previous year. The two played for the last time that summer in Nice, France with Lenglen winning 6–0, 6–0. This completed the head-to-head rivalry between the players, with Lenglen winning their first match at the 1921 World Hard Court Championships 6–3, 6–2, after which Mallory said about Lenglen, "She is just the steadiest player that ever was. She just sent back at me whatever I sent at her and waited for me to make a fault. And her returns often enough were harder than the shots I sent up to her."

Mallory won the singles title at the U.S. Championships a record eight times in fifteen attempts, with the last of her titles occurring at age 42 in 1926. Her worst finish there was a quarterfinal loss in 1927 at age 43. In 1926, Mallory hit one of the heights of her career when she came back from 0–4 in the third set of the final against Elizabeth Ryan, saving a match point in winning her eighth championship. Her farewell to the U.S. Championships was as a 45-year-old semifinalist in 1929, losing to Helen Wills Moody 6–0, 6–0. Mallory is the only woman other than Chris Evert to have won the U.S. Championships four consecutive times.

According to Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Mallory was ranked in the world top ten from 1921 (when the rankings began) through 1927, reaching a career high of World No. 2 in those rankings in 1921 and 1922. She was ranked in the U.S. top ten 13 consecutive years from 1915 through 1928 (no rankings were issued in 1917) and was top ranked from 1915 through 1922 and in 1926.

Mallory was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1958.

Grand Slam finals (24)

Singles (12)

Wins (8)

Year	Championship	Opponent in final	Score in final
1915	U.S. Championships	Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman	4–6, 6–2, 6–0
1916	U.S. Championships (2)	Louise Hammond Raymond	6–0, 6–1
1917	U.S. Championships (3)	Marion Vanderhoef	4–6, 6–0, 6–2
1918	U.S. Championships (4)	Eleanor Goss	6–4, 6–3
1920	U.S. Championships (5)	Marion Zinderstein Jessup	6–3, 6–1
1921	U.S. Championships (6)	Mary Browne	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
1922	U.S. Championships (7)	Helen Wills Moody	6–3, 6–1
1926	U.S. Championships (8)	Elizabeth Ryan	4–6, 6–4, 9–7

Runner-ups (4)

Year	Championship	Opponent in final	Score in final
1921	World Hard Court Championships	Suzanne Lenglen	6–2, 6–3
1922	Wimbledon	Suzanne Lenglen	6–2, 6–0
1923	U.S. Championships	Helen Wills Moody	6–2, 6–1
1924	U.S. Championships	Helen Wills Moody	6–1, 6–3

Women's doubles (4)

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
1916	U.S. Championships	Eleonora Sears	Louise Hammond Raymond Edna Wildey	4–6, 6–2, 10–8
1917	U.S. Championships	Eleanora Sears	Phyllis Walsh Mrs. Robert LeRoy	6–2, 6–4

Runner-ups (2)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
1918	U.S. Championships	Mrs. Johan Rogge	Eleanor Goss Marion Zinderstein Jessup	7–5, 8–6
1922	U.S. Championships	Edith Sigourney	Helen Wills Moody Marion Jessup	6–4, 7–9, 6–3

Mixed doubles (8)

Wins (3)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
1917	U.S. Championships	Irving Wright	Bill Tilden Florence Ballin	10–12, 6–1, 6–3
1922	U.S. Championships	Bill Tilden	Howard Kinsey Helen Wills Moody	6–4, 6–3
1923	U.S. Championships	Bill Tilden	John Hawkes Kitty McKane Godfree	6–3, 2–6, 10–8

Runner-ups (5)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
1915	U.S. Championships	Irving Wright	Harry Johnson Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman	6–0, 6–1
1918	U.S. Championships	Fred Alexander	Irving Wright Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman	6–2, 6–3
1920	U.S. Championships	Craig Biddle	Wallace Johnson Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman	6–4, 6–3
1921	U.S. Championships	Bill Tilden	Bill Johnston Mary Browne	3–6, 6–4, 6–3
1924	U.S. Championships	Bill Tilden	Vincent Richards Helen Wills Moody	6–8, 7–5, 6–0

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1909	1910	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919	1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	Career SR
Australian Championships	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0
French Championships1	R	R	R	A	A	A	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	F	A	A	NH	A	A	A	2R	A	0 / 2
Wimbledon	2R	A	A	A	A	A	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	SF	QF	F	QF	2R	A	SF	3R	1R	3R	0 / 10
U.S. Championships	A	A	A	A	A	A	W	W	W	W	SF	W	W	W	F	F	SF	W	QF	SF	SF	8 / 15
SR	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	1 / 1	1 / 1	1 / 1	1 / 1	0 / 1	1 / 2	1 / 3	1 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 1	1 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 2	8 / 27

NH = tournament not held.

R = tournament restricted to French nationals.

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.

¹Through 1923, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. The World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussels, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from that tournament are shown here from 1912 through 1914 and from 1920 through 1923. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.

See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

External links

• International Tennis Hall of Fame