| Full name | Eleonora Randolph Sears |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  United States |
| Born | (1881-09-28)September 28, 1881 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | March 16, 1968(1968-03-16) (aged 86) Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Plays | Right-handed |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1968(member page) |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No.6 (US ranking) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Wimbledon | 2R (1923) |
| US Open | F (1912) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | 2R (1924) |
| US Open | W (1911, 1915, 1916, 1917) |
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | 2R (1923) |
| US Open | W (1916) |
Eleonora Randolph Sears (September 28, 1881 – March 16, 1968) was an Americantennis champion of the 1910s. In addition, she was a champion squash player, and prominent in other sports; she is considered one of the leading all-round women athletes of the first half of the 20th century.[1]
Sears was the daughter of Boston businessmanFrederick Richard Sears and a granddaughter ofT. Jefferson Coolidge (who was a great-grandson ofThomas Jefferson) and Hetty Appleton, and a cousin ofHenry Cabot Lodge.[2] Sears' father was also known for playing the first tennis game in the United States, his opponent being his cousinJames Dwight who brought the game from Europe.[3]
Sears was raised in wealth and privilege. She was acquainted withCorinne Douglass Robinson,Eleanor Roosevelt andAlice Roosevelt, all related to PresidentTheodore Roosevelt. She played tennis at a competition organized byAva Lowle Willing, the wife ofJohn Jacob Astor IV, and she attended the wedding of tennis championRobert Wrenn. For a while she datedHarold Stirling Vanderbilt, the sporty scion of the Vanderbilt fortune.[4]
Sears won the women's doubles at theU. S. Women's National Championships four times, including three consecutively (1915–1917). In singles, she was a finalist in1912, where she was beaten in straight sets byMary Browne. She teamed withWillis E. Davis to take the nationalmixed doubles championship in 1916.[5]
In August 1938 at the age of 56, she lost toDorothy Bundy in the second round of the Essex County Club Invitational in Manchester, Massachusetts 6–0, 6–1.
She purchased theBurrland Farm for horses in 1955, then "deliberately gutted and burned [its mansion] down" in 1961 to reduce property taxes. She sold the farm in 1966.[6]
She was inducted into theInternational Tennis Hall of Fame in 1968, joining her uncleRichard (inducted 1955).[7]
Eleonora Sears rode horses competitively and was elected to theU. S. Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1992. She also owned and racedThoroughbred horses.[8] She was the first woman to play polo on a men's team.[1]
Sears was the first female national squash champion, a founder of the Women's Squash Racquets Association, and coach of the U. S. Women's International Squash Team.[1]
She gained media attention for her long-distance walks and hikes. As well, she was one of the first American women to drive an automobile and fly a plane.[1] Her habit of wearing trousers, both when competing in sports and in public, was criticized in media and social circles.[9]
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1912 | U. S. National Championships | Grass | Mary Browne | 4–6, 2–6 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1911 | U. S. National Championships | Grass | Hazel Hotchkiss | Dorothy GreenFlorence Sutton | 6–4, 4–6, 6–2 |
| Win | 1915 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Hazel Hotchkiss | Helen McLean Mrs. G. L. Chapman | 10–8, 6–2 |
| Win | 1916 | U. S. National Championships | Grass |  Molla Bjurstedt | Louise RaymondEdna Wildey | 4–6, 6–2, 10–8 |
| Win | 1917 | U. S. National Championships | Grass | Molla Bjurstedt | Phyllis WalshGrace Robert LeRoy | 6–2, 6–4 |
| Loss | 1919 | U. S. National Championships | Grass | Hazel Hotchkiss | Marion ZindersteinEleanor Goss | 8–10, 7–9 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1912 | U. S. National Championships | Grass | William Clothier | Mary BrowneR. Norris Williams | 4–6, 6–2, 9–11 |
| Win | 1916 | U. S. National Championships | Grass | Willis E. Davis | Florence BallinBill Tilden | 6–4, 7–5 |
Later in life she lived in Florida with Marie V. Gendron (July 22, 1903 – January 26, 2004), nickname madame, who, at Sears' death, inherited her whole estate. She retained half of it, including Sears' house in Florida, jewelry and works of arts, and gave the rest to six Massachusetts hospitals.[10]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
