 Betz in 1949 | |
| Full name | Pauline Betz Addie |
|---|---|
| ITF name | Pauline Addie |
| Country (sports) |  United States |
| Born | Pauline May Betz (1919-08-06)August 6, 1919 Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | May 31, 2011(2011-05-31) (aged 91) Potomac, Maryland, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.66 m) |
| Turned pro | 1947 |
| Retired | 1960[1] |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1965(member page) |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 0–0 |
| Highest ranking | No.1 (1946) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| French Open | F (1946) |
| Wimbledon | W (1946) |
| US Open | W (1942,1943,1944,1946) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 0–0 |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| French Open | F (1946) |
| Wimbledon | F (1946) |
| US Open | F (1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945) |
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
| French Open | W (1946) |
| US Open | F (1941, 1943) |
| Team competitions | |
| Wightman Cup | W (1946) |
Pauline May Betz Addie (néeBetz, August 6, 1919 – May 31, 2011) was an American professionaltennis player. She won fiveGrand Slam singles titles and was the runner-up on three other occasions.Jack Kramer called her the second best female tennis player he ever saw, behindHelen Wills Moody.[2]
Betz attendedLos Angeles High School and learned her tennis fromDick Skeen. She continued her tennis and education atRollins College (graduating in 1943),[3][4][5][6] where she was a member ofKappa Alpha Theta sorority. Betz earned an MA in economics fromColumbia University.[7][8]
Betz won theEastern Clay Court Championships in 1941 and also won theEastern Grass Court Championships that same year with a close win in the final againstSarah Palfrey Cooke.[9] She won theDixie International Championships three times (1940–1942).
Betz won the first of her four singles titles at theU.S. Championships in 1942, saving a match point in the semifinals againstMargaret Osborne while trailing 3–5 in the final set.[10] She defeatedLouise Brough in a close final in both 1942 and 1943.
In 1943, she won theTri-State tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio, defeatingCatherine Wolf in the final without losing a point in the first set,[10] a "golden set". In 1944, she won the final of the U.S. Championships againstMargaret Osborne duPont.
She won theWimbledon singles title in 1946, defeating Louise Brough in the final, the only time she entered the tournament, without losing a set.[10] At the1946 French Championships, held that year after Wimbledon, she lost the final in three sets to Margaret Osborne after failing to convert two match points.[11] At the U.S. Championships in 1946, she defeatedPatricia Canning Todd in the semifinal andDoris Hart in the final.
According toJohn Olliff, Betz was ranked world no. 1 in 1946 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945).[11] She was included in the year-end top 10 rankings issued by theUnited States Lawn Tennis Association from 1939 through 1946. She was the top ranked U.S. player from 1942 through 1944 and in 1946.[12]
Her amateur career ended in 1947 when theUSLTA revoked her amateur status for exploring the possibilities of turning professional.[10][13][14][15] Betz played two professional tours of matches againstSarah Palfrey Cooke (1947) andGussie Moran (1951).[11] A professional tour againstMaureen Connolly was planned for 1955, but did not materialize due to Connolly's career-ending injury.[16]
Pauline Betz won the Cleveland Women's World Professional Championships in 1953, 1955, and 1956, defeatingDoris Hart, the reigning U.S. champion, in the 1956 final. In May 1956, she also played another match against Hart at Milwaukee, winning in two straight sets.
Betz died of complications related toParkinson's disease on May 31, 2011. She is buried with her husband Bob Addie in a double plot in St Gabriel Cemetery inPotomac,Maryland.[17]
On September 2, 1946, Betz appeared on the cover ofTIME magazine.[18][19]Betz was inducted into theInternational Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965.[10] In 1995, she was inducted in the ITA Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame.[7] The Pauline Betz Addie Tennis Center at Cabin John Regional Park in Potomac, Maryland, was renamed in her honor on May 1, 2008. Addie,Albert Ritzenberg, and Stanly Hoffberger founded the center in 1972.[20]
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1941 | U.S. Championships | Grass |  Sarah Palfrey Cooke | 5–7, 2–6 |
| Win | 1942 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Louise Brough | 4–6, 6–1, 6–4 |
| Win | 1943 | U.S. Championships(2) | Grass | Louise Brough | 6–3, 5–7, 6–3 |
| Win | 1944 | U.S. Championships(3) | Grass | Margaret Osborne | 6–3, 8–6 |
| Loss | 1945 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Sarah Palfrey Cooke | 6–3, 6–8, 4–6 |
| Win | 1946 | Wimbledon | Grass | Louise Brough | 6–2, 6–4 |
| Loss | 1946 | French Championships | Clay | Margaret Osborne | 6–2, 6–8, 5–7 |
| Win | 1946 | U.S. Championships(4) | Grass | Doris Hart | 11–9, 6–3 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1941 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Dorothy Bundy | Sarah PalfreyMargaret Osborne | 6–3, 1–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 1942 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Doris Hart | Louise Brough Margaret Osborne | 6–2, 5–7, 0–6 |
| Loss | 1943 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Doris Hart | Louise Brough Margaret Osborne | 4–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1944 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Doris Hart | Louise Brough Margaret Osborne | 6–4, 4–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1945 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Doris Hart | Louise Brough Margaret Osborne | 3–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1946 | Wimbledon | Grass | Doris Hart | Louise Brough Margaret Osborne | 3–6, 6–2, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1946 | French Championships | Clay | Doris Hart | Louise Brough Margaret Osborne | 4–6, 6–0, 1–6 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1941 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Bobby Riggs | Sarah PalfreyJack Kramer | 6–4, 4–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 1943 | U.S. Championships | Grass |  Pancho Segura | Margaret OsborneBill Talbert | 8–10, 4–6 |
| Win | 1946 | French Championships | Clay | Budge Patty | Dorothy BundyTom Brown | 7–5, 9–7 |
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| Tournament | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 19461 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Championships | A | A | NH | NH | NH | NH | NH | A | 0 / 0 |
| French Championships | A | NH | R | R | R | R | A | F | 0 / 1 |
| Wimbledon | A | NH | NH | NH | NH | NH | NH | W | 1 / 1 |
| U.S. Championships | 1R | QF | F | W | W | W | F | W | 4 / 8 |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 2 / 3 | 5 / 10 |
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held underGerman occupation.
1In 1946, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.
In 1949, Betz published an autobiography titledWings on my Tennis Shoes.[21][19] That same year she marriedBob Addie, born Addonizio, a sportswriter for theWashington Times-Herald andWashington Post.[1][10] The couple had five children, including poet and novelistKim Addonizio, Rusty, Gary, Jon and Rick.[1][14] Her granddaughterAya Cash is an actress. Betz died in her sleep on May 31, 2011, aged 91.[1]
| Tournament | Year | Record accomplished | Player tied |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tri-State tournament | 1943 | Achieved a Golden Set[22] | Tine Scheuer-Larsen (1995)Yaroslava Shvedova (2012) |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
