Durr, Francoise

Francoise Durr “Frankie”
Born: December 25, 1942
Hometown: Algiers, Algeria
Citizenship: France
Handed: Right
Inducted: 2003

Grand Slam Record
French National Championships/Open Singles winner 1967
Singles semifinalist 1972, 1973
Mixed Doubles winner 1968, 1971, 1973
Doubles winner 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971
Doubles finalist 1965, 1973, 1979

Wimbledon Singles semifinalist 1970
Doubles finalist 1965,1968,1970,1972,1973,1975
Mixed Doubles winner 1976
Mixed Doubles semifinalist 1978

US National Championships/Open Singles semifinalist 1967
Doubles winner 1969, 1972
Doubles finalist 1971, 1974
Doubles semifinalist 1978
Mixed Doubles finalist  1969

Tournament Record
Fed Cup  Team member 1963-1966, 1971-1972, 1977-1979

Berlin Team Captain 1980
Record: 16-8 Singles, 15-9 Doubles (Holds the French record for most doubles wins)

Italian Open Singles semifinalist 1966, 1969

Doubles winner 1969

Doubles finalist 1970

German Open Singles winner 1967

Canadian Open Singles winner 1971

Doubles winner 1971

Chase Championships  Doubles finalist 1974, 1977

World Team Tennis member 1974-1977
Career Results
Career Record – 26 WTA Tour Singles titles and over 40 WTA Tour Doubles titles

Recipient of the WTA Honorary Membership Award 1988
Appointed first Director of Women’s Tennis at the French Tennis Federation 1993
First woman to play 100 events on the Virginia Slims Tour 1978

Francoise “Frankie” Durr was the World’s No. 3 ranked player in 1967. She holds 12 titles in Grand Slam events (11 in doubles, 1 in singles), with 26 career singles titles and over 40 doubles titles. She was ranked nine times in the World Top Ten from 1965-1976. At Wimbledon she was a mixed doubles winner in 1976, and appeared in 6 women’s doubles finals at Wimbledon (1965, ’68, ’70, ’72, ’73, ’75).

She won the US National Championships/Open in women’s doubles in 1969 and ’72, was a doubles finalist in 1971 and ’74, and a mixed doubles finalist in 1969.

At the French National Championships/Open she was the women’s singles winner in 1967, won five straight women’s doubles titles (1967- ’71), and won the mixed doubles titles in 1968, ’71, and ’73. She was the last French woman to win the coveted French singles trophy until 2000, when Mary Pierce ended the 33-year drought.

Her titles were won using unorthodox grips and strokes, giving way to pinpoint accuracy.

Durr was an integral member of France’s Fed Cup teams (1963-’66, 1971-’72, 1977-’79), and was Team Captain in 1996. In 1988 she was a recipient of the WTA Honorary Membership Award and in 1993 Durr was appointed the first Director of Women’s Tennis for the French Tennis Federation.

Durr was also the first woman to travel the circuit with her dog, named Topspin, who became a star by carrying Durr’s racquet onto the court.

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