Ellen Crosby Roosevelt
Died: September 26, 1954
Hometown: Hyde Park, New York, United States
Citizenship: United States
Handed: Right
Inducted: 1975
Grand Slam Record
U.S. Singles 1890
Singles finalist 1891
Doubles 1890 (with her sister)
Doubles finalist 1891
Mixed 1893
The Roosevelt sisters, Ellen, 20, and Grace, 21, first played in the U.S. Championships in 1888, and two years later both were champions. Ellen Crosby Roosevelt won the 1890 singles over defending champ Bertha Townsend in the challenge round, 6-2, 6-2, and joined with Grace for the doubles championship, 6-1, 6-2, over Townsend and Margarette Ballard.
The Roosevelts, who were born and raised in Hyde Park NY, first cousins of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, they were the first sisters to win a major title. They were emulated only by champ Juliette and Kathleen Atkinson at the U.S. of 1897 and 1898. In 1891, however, the Roosevelts were done in by an Irishwoman, champ Mabel Cahill. Cahill beat Grace, 6-3, 7-5, in the final of the all-comers, then deposed Ellen, 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, in the challenge round. In the doubles Cahill and Mrs. Emma Leavitt Morgan unseated the sisters, 2-6, 8-6, 6-4. The only Roosevelt reappearance in the Championships, was Ellen’s mixed doubles title with Clarence Hobart in 1893. The Roosevelts, reared on a private court at home, may have been the first to be prodded by a tennis parent. Recalled original champ Ellen Hansell: “Their father [John Roosevelt] coached and treated them as if they were a pair of show ponies. We silly, non-serious-minded players giggled at their early-to-bed and careful food habits.”
Ellen, a right-hander, was born in August 1868 and died in Hyde Park, September 26, 1954. She entered the Hall of Fame in 1975. Also a right-hander, Grace Walton Roosevelt, who became Mrs. Appleton Clark, was born June 3, 1867, in Hyde Park and died there November 29, 1945.
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