Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss Wightman “Lady Tennis”
Born: December 20, 1886
Died: December 05, 1974
Hometown: Healdsburg, California, United States
Citizenship: United States
Handed: Right
Inducted: 1957
Grand Slam Record
U.S. Singles 1909-11, 1919
Singles finalist 1915
Doubles 1909-11, 15, 24, 28
Doubles finalist 1919, 23
Mixed 1909-11, 15, 18, 20
Mixed finalist 1926
Wimbledon Doubles 1924
Tournament Record
Olympics Gold Medal Doubles 1924
Gold Medal Mixed 1938-39, 1924
“Lady Tennis,” as she came to be known remembered herself as a shy, somewhat awed and fascinated college girl when she arrived at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in 1909 for the U.S. Championships. A Californian, Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss hadn’t played on grass, but with her attacking style and rock-ribbed volleying–she was the first woman to rely so heavily on the volley–22-year-old Hazel, a right-hander, scythed through the field to lift the title effortlessly (6-0, 6-1) from 39-year-old Maud Barger Wallach in the challenge round.
She lost only one set, in the all-comers final over Louise Hammond, 6-8, 6-1, 6-4. That triple was the start of the first of three U.S. triples (singles, doubles, mixed titles for three straight years) registered by American women. Hazel repeated in 1910 and 1911, and was emulated by Mary K. Browne (1912, 1913, 1914) and Alice Marble (1938, 1939, 1940). Hazel had no trouble with Hammond in the 1910 challenge round, but an old West Coast rival, May Sutton–champion in 1904–pushed her hard in 1911, 8-10, 6-4, 9-7.
Marrying Bostonian George Wightman 1912, she didn’t defend. But, responding to a challenge from her father–to win after becoming a mother, a U.S. first–she reappeared in 1915 to lose the singles final to Molla Mallory, and win the doubles and mixed. But papa’s wish came true for the spunky 125-pound 5-footer in another comeback, 1919. At 32, she won her fourth singles title. She lost only one set, beating Marion Zinderstein, 6-1, 6-2, in the final, and reaching the doubles final. Thereafter her long-lived and unapproached success (U.S. adult titles between 1909 and 1943) was confined to doubles, at which she was one of the supremes.
Hazel, devoted to the game in all aspects, generously instructed innumerable players, at no charge, throughout her life, and was able to win important titles with two of proté és who would join her in the Hall of Fame: Wimbledon, U.S. and Olympic doubles with Helen Wills in 1924; U.S. Indoor doubles with Sarah Palfrey 1928 through 1931.Her second Olympic gold in 1924 came in mixed with Dick Williams.
She envisioned a team tournament for women similar to the Davis Cup, and offered a silver vase as prize. In 1923 British women were strongest apart from Americans, and Julian Myrick of the USTA decided that a U.S.-Britain competition would be in order for the Wightman Cup. The event with Hazel captaining and playing for a winning U.S. side, opened the newly constructed stadium at Forest Hills. A treasured series, it lasted through 1989, disbanded unfortunately with the Brits no longer able to offer competition.
The last of Hazel’s record 34 U.S. adult titles was recorded in 1943 as she, 56, and Pauline Betz, 24 won the doubles over Lillian Lopaus and Judy Atterbury, 7-5, 6-1. Though short, she anticipated and moved extremely well though undemonstrably. She perfected her volleying early, hitting the ball against the family home in Berkeley, where she grew up and graduated from the University of California. She refused to let the ball bounce because the yard was so uneven. She used to play against her four brothers and then the proud and spiky Sutton sisters.
As the Bostonian Mrs. Wightman, she was in the U.S. Top Ten in 1915, 1918 and 1919, No. 1 the last. She was born December 20, 1886, in Healdsburg, CA, and died December 5, 1974, in Chestnut Hill, MA. She entered the Hall of Fame in 1956.
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