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Maria Bueno Biography |
Maria Ester Audion Bueno, born October 11, 1939 in São Paulo, Brazil, is a former tennis champion.
Bueno began playing tennis at very young age and, without ever having received any formal training, won her first tournament at age 12. She was 14 when she captured her country’s women's singles championship. Joining the international circuit, in 1958 she won the Italian Open singles title and the first of her 19 Grand Slam major titles, capturing the women's doubles at the Wimbledon championships with American, Althea Gibson. The following year she won her first singles title at Wimbledon, defeating American Darlene Hard, 6-4, 6-3, in the final. From there she went on to capture the singles title at the US Open, earning herself the No. 1 ranking for 1959 and the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award. In her native Brazil she returned as a national hero, honored by the country’s President and given a ticker-tape parade on the streets of São Paulo.
Maria Bueno was ranked No. 1 in the world in 1959, 1960, 1964 and 1966, during which time she won the singles title at Wimbledon three times, the US title, four times. She was runner-up at the Australian Open and the French Open, losing in the singles finals in both to arch rival, Margaret Smith-Court.
As a doubles player, Bueno was second to none, winning 12 major championships with six different partners. In 1960, she won the Doubles Grand Slam in tennis. She accomplished this despite being seriously ill with hepatitis that drained much of her strength.
In 1978, Maria Bueno was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Grand Slam Titles:
SINGLES:
Wimbledon : 1959, 1960, 1964
US Open : 1959, 1963, 1964, 1966
DOUBLES:
Australian Open : 1960
French Open : 1960
Wimbledon : 1958, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1966
US Open : 1960, 1962, 1966, 1968
MIXED DOUBLES:
French Open : 1960 |
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