| Full name | Shirley Juliet Bloomer |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  Great Britain |
| Born | (1934-06-13)13 June 1934 (age 91) Grimsby, England |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 3 (1957)(Tingay)[1] |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| French Open | W (1957) |
| Wimbledon | QF (1956,1958) |
| US Open | SF (1956) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| French Open | W (1957) |
| Wimbledon | F (1955) |
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
| French Open | W (1958) |
| Team competitions | |
| Wightman Cup | W (1958,1960) |
Shirley Brasher (néeBloomer; born 13 June 1934) is a formertennis player from England who won threeGrand Slam titles during her career and who was the top-ranked singles player in her country in 1957.
Brasher attended Cleethorpes Girls' Grammar School (becameLindsey School in 1973) inCleethorpes.
Brasher (then known asShirley Bloomer) won the singles title at the 1957French Championships, defeatingDorothy Head Knode in the final in straight sets.[2] She was the runner-up in singles at the 1958 French Championships, losing toZsuzsi Körmöczy 6–4, 1–6, 6–2, having defeatedMaria Bueno in the semifinals.[3]
Bloomer teamed withDarlene Hard to win the women's doubles title at the 1957 French Championships, defeatingYola Ramírez andRosie Reyes in the final 7–5, 4–6, 7–5. She teamed withNicola Pietrangeli to win the mixed doubles title at the 1958 French Championships, defeatingLorraine Coghlan andRobert Howe in the final.[3]
Bloomer partneredPatricia Ward to reach the 1955 women's doubles finals at Wimbledon, where they lost toAngela Mortimer andAnne Shilcock 7–5, 6–1,[4] and at the French Championships, where they lost to Hard andBeverly Baker Fleitz 7–5, 6–8, 13–11. They previously had beaten Mortimer and Shilcock in the British Hard Courts final and defeated Hard and Fleitz in the Wimbledon semifinals.[5]
She reached the final of Monte Carlo in 1956, losing toAlthea Gibson and withPat Hird beat Gibson and Louise Snow in the doubles final. Having reached the final in 1956, beating Darlene Hard and losing in three sets to Angela Mortimer, she won theBritish Hard Court Championships atBournemouth in 1957, beating Pat Ward, and in 1958, beatingChristine Truman andAnn Haydon.[6] She beatLouise Brough to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Championships in 1956 and was the only player to take a set from Althea Gibson at Wimbledon in 1958, losing in three sets in the quarterfinals. According to Lance Tingay's end of year rankings, she reached no. 7 in the world in 1956, no. 3 in 1957 and no. 5 in 1958.[1] She won theItalian Championships in 1957, beating Dorothy Knode in a three-sets final.[2][6] She lost her title the next year to Maria Bueno in the semifinals after having match points.
Bloomer played on the BritishWightman Cup team from 1955 through 1960, playing the no. 2 singles in 1955, the no. 3 in 1956 (beating Dorothy Knode), and the no. 1 in 1957 and 1958. The 1958 team that included Christine Truman and Brasher won the cup, which was the first time that Great Britain had won the competition since 1930. In 1960, she and Christine Truman won the final doubles match againstJanet Hopps and Dorothy Knode to bring her team to another 4–3 victory over the U.S.
Bloomer played a hard baseline game, and her tennis was concerted rather than spectacular. She was a member of the Grimsby Town Tennis Club, which was located in College Street,Grimsby.
In April 1959, she married Olympic champion athleteChris Brasher who helped paceRoger Bannister to running the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954.[6][7] They had three children, including their daughterKate who played on the women's professional tennis tour in the 1980s.[8]
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1957 | French Championships | Clay |  Dorothy Head Knode | 6–1, 6–3 |
| Loss | 1958 | French Championships | Clay |  Zsuzsi Körmöczy | 4–6, 6–1, 2–6 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1955 | French Championships | Clay | Pat Ward | Beverly BakerDarlene Hard | 5–7, 8–6, 11–13 |
| Loss | 1955 | Wimbledon | Grass | Pat Ward | Angela MortimerAnne Shilcock | 5–7, 1–6 |
| Win | 1957 | French Championships | Clay | Darlene Hard |  Yola RamírezRosie Reyes | 7–5, 4–6, 7–5 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1958 | French Championships | Clay |  Nicola Pietrangeli |  Lorraine CoghlanBob Howe | 8–6, 6–2 |
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| Tournament | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Championships | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 |
| French Championships | A | A | 3R | QF | QF | W | F | 4R | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1 / 6 |
| Wimbledon | 1R | 3R | A | 4R | QF | 4R | QF | 2R | 3R | 2R | A | 2R | A | A | 4R | A | 4R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 0 / 18 |
| U.S. Championships | A | A | A | 3R | SF | QF | A | 3R | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 4 |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 1 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 1 / 28 |
