Nell Hall Hopman,CBE

Full name	Eleanor Mary Hall Hopman
Country (sports)	Australia
Born	(1909-03-09)9 March 1909 Sydney
Died	10 January 1968(1968-01-10) (aged 58) Hawthorn, Victoria
Retired	1966
Singles
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	F (1939, 1947)
French Open	3R (1938)
Wimbledon	3R (1934, 1952, 1953)
US Open	3R (1938)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	F (1935, 1937, 1955)
French Open	W (1954)
Wimbledon	QF (1935, 1947)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	W (1930, 1936, 1937, 1939)
Wimbledon	F (1935)

Eleanor "Nell" Mary Hall Hopman,CBE (néeHall; 9 March 1909 – 10 January 1968) was one of the femaletennis players that dominated Australian tennis from 1930 through the early 1960s. She was the first wife ofHarry Hopman, the coach and captain of 22 AustralianDavis Cup teams.

Hopman was born on 9 March 1909 atCoogee, Sydney and was the only daughter and second of three children of Charles Ernest Hall, clerk, and Mabel Gertrude, née Tipper. She was educated at Claremont College,Randwick and as a student she excelled at tennis and music. She obtaining herlicentiate and teaching diploma at theRoyal College of Music, London, and received ascholarship in 1928 but instead elected to pursue a tennis career.^[1]

Hopman teamed with her husband to win four mixed-doubles titles at theAustralian Championships (1930, 1936, 1937, and 1939).^[2] They were mixed-doubles finalists atWimbledon in 1935, losing toFred Perry andDorothy Round Little in three sets.^[3]

Hopman was a singles finalist at the Australian Championships in 1939 and 1947.^[2] She partnered withMaureen Connolly to win the women's doubles title at the 1954French Championships. She played in 58Grand Slam singles events during her career, the last one a first-round loss at the 1966 French Championships when she was 57 years old. She played in 27 of the 28 singles events that were held at the Australian Championships from 1930 through 1962, including 25 consecutive events from 1933 through 1962.^[2] Her last Grand Slam event was the women's doubles tournament at the 1966US Championships, where she and Mrs. Arklay Richards lost in the first round.

Hopman was instrumental inTennis Australia's decision to invite the reigningWimbledon champion,Louise Brough Clapp, andDoris Hart to play tournaments in Australia in the summer of 1949–1950. She also arranged for Connolly and the American junior title holderJulie Sampson Haywood to play in Australia in the summer of 1952–1953. The result was Tennis Australia's decision to establish a committee to discuss ways and means of improving the "poor standards of Australian women's tennis". Other tennis writers supported Hopman's efforts, accusing Tennis Australia of a "parochial attitude to women players". In 1955, Tennis Australia finally sent a women's team abroad, under the management ofAdrian Quist. In 1961, Hopman took another women's team abroad, consisting ofMargaret Court,Lesley Turner Bowrey, andMary Carter Reitano. The tour was a financial success, but Hopman was accused of overworking and underfeeding her players and forcing them to stay in inadequate hotels. As a result, Court refused to participate in the 1962 overseas tour led by Hopman.

Hopman was employed by theUnited States Lawn Tennis Association and the Southern California Tennis Association from 1952 through 1954 to be the travelling companion and chaperon of Connolly. In 1962, she persuaded theInternational Tennis Federation to begin sponsoring the Federation Cup, now known as theFed Cup, an international team event for women similar to theDavis Cup for men.

She was awarded theCBE in July 1962.^[4][5]

Hopman became the first life member of "Tennis Victoria" in 1965 but the following year underwent unsuccessful surgery for a brain tumor and died in January 1968.^[6]

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1939	Australian Championships	Grass	Emily Hood Westacott	1–6, 2–6
Loss	1947	Australian Championships	Grass	Nancye Wynne Bolton	3–6, 2–6

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1935	Australian Championships	Grass	Louise Bickerton	Evelyn Dearman Nancy Lyle	3–6, 4–6
Loss	1937	Australian Championships	Grass	Emily Hood Westacott	Thelma Coyne Long Nancye Wynne Bolton	2–6, 2–6
Win	1954	French Championships	Clay	Maureen Connolly	Maud Galtier Suzanne Schmitt	7–5, 4–6, 6–0
Loss	1955	Australian Championships	Grass	Gwen Thiele	Mary Bevis Hawton Beryl Penrose	5–7, 1–6

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1930	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	Marjorie Cox Crawford Jack Crawford	11–9, 3–6, 6–3
Loss	1935	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	Dorothy Round Fred Perry	5–7, 6–4, 2–6
Win	1936	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	May Blick Abe Kay	6–2, 6–0
Win	1937	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	Dorothy Stevenson Don Turnbull	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win	1939	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	Margaret Wilson John Bromwich	6–8, 6–2, 6–3
Loss	1940	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	Nancye Wynne Bolton Colin Long	5–7, 6–2, 4–6

R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held underGerman occupation.

¹In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.

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

• Australian Dictionary of Biography entry about Hopman
• National Portrait Gallery – Eleanor Mary ('Nell') Hopman (nee Hall)

• 1909 births
• 1968 deaths
• Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
• Australian Championships (tennis) champions
• Australian female tennis players
• French Championships (tennis) champions
• Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
• Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
• Sportswomen from New South Wales
• Tennis players from Sydney
• 20th-century Australian sportswomen

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