 Wheeler Kelleher in 1938 | |
| Full name | Gracyn Weymouth Wheeler Kelleher |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  United States |
| Born | (1914-07-02)July 2, 1914 |
| Died | October 11, 1980(1980-10-11) (aged 66)[1] Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Turned pro | 1930 (amateur) |
| Retired | 1961 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 404-155 (72.3%) |
| Career titles | 48 |
| Highest ranking | 4 (USA) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| French Open | 2R (1939) |
| Wimbledon | 3R (1939) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| French Open | QF (1939) |
| Wimbledon | QF (1939) |
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | 2R (1955) |
Gracyn Wheeler Kelleher (July 2, 1914 – October 11, 1980) was an Americantennis player. She was active on ILTF World Circuit from 1930 to 1961 where she contested 85 career singles finals and won 48 titles.
Her best season came in 1939 when she won 11 singles titles and finished that year as title leader on theILTF World Circuit
Wheeler also played for the U.S.Wightman Cup team and was ranked as high as No. 4 in the United States during her career.[2]
She played her first senior tournament in May 1930 at theSouthern California Championships. In September that year she reached her first final at the Santa Monica Championships where she lost toViolet Doeg. In December 1931 she won her first singles title at the Los Angeles Midwinter Championships againstElizabeth Deike.
Wheeler won the singles title at thePacific Southwest Championships in September 1936 after a win in the final againstAlice Marble who had becomeU.S. National champion earlier that month.[3] At theTri-State Tennis Tournament in Cincinnati, Wheeler won the singles title in 1934 and was a singles finalist in 1940. At theCanadian National tournament, she won the singles title in 1933.[1][4]
She and Helen Bernard reached the finals of the 1940National Clay Court Doubles Championships, then lost toAlice Marble andMary Arnold at a final played in Cincinnati. She won the doubles title at theU.S. Women's Indoor Championships in 1940 partneringNorma Taubele Barber.[4]
She won the Oregon state singles and doubles titles in 1932 and the singles title in 1933. She was a quarterfinalist at the 1936 U.S. Nationals and won the U.S. Girls 18s doubles title in 1932.
In 1939 at theGallia Club de Cannes Championship in Cannes, France, Wheeler was seeded No. 1, ahead of French player, futureInternational Tennis Hall of Fame inducteeSimonne Mathieu. According to the February 9, 1939, edition of theOakland Tribune, Mathieu protested, telling officials "Am I not the greatest player in all of France? If I am not seeded No. 1, I will quit the tournament." Wheeler quickly gave up the No. 1 seed in deference to Mathieu, and took her place as the No. 2 seed, but defeated her in three sets
Wheeler participated in theWimbledon Championships in 1938, 1939 and 1955. She reached the third round in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles, both in 1939. With her husband, she took part in the mixed doubles in 1955 and lost in the second round after a bye in the first.[5]
In August 1939, it was reported that she would marry German tennis playerHenner Henkel in October that year.[6] On August 15, 1940, she marriedRobert J. Kelleher, an American district court judge in Los Angeles, former U.S. Davis Cup captain, president of theUnited States Tennis Association, and member of theInternational Tennis Hall of Fame.[7] She won her final singles title in July 1947 at Vancouver where she beat Eleanor Young Connelly. She reached here last final in March 1950 at the La Jolla Summer Championships in San Diego where she lost toDodo Cheyne. She played her final event in May 1961 at theNorthern California Championships inSacramento.
She has been inducted into the Southern California Tennis Association Senior Hall of Fame.