'Anna Margarethe "Molla" Bjurstedt Mallory' (
March 6,
1884 –
November 22,
1959 in
Stockholm) was a
Norwegian-born
American tennis player.
Tennis career
Although she had won a bronze medal in singles for Norway at the
1912 Olympic games in Stockholm, and was the champion of her homeland, Mallory was relatively unknown when she arrived in
New York City to begin work as a masseuse in
1915. She entered the U.S. Indoor Championships that year unheralded and beat defending champ
Marie Wagner 6-4, 6-4, which was the first of her eight singles titles. She also won the title in
Cincinnati that year.
Mallory had less in the way of stroke equipment than most tennis champions. But the sturdy, Norwegian-born woman, the daughter of an army officer, was a fierce competitor, running with limitless endurance.
Robert (Bob) Kelleher, a former president of the
United States Tennis Association (USTA) and a ball boy during Mallory's era, once said, "She looked and acted tough when she was on the court hitting tennis balls. She walked around in a manner that said you'd better look out or she'd deck you. She was an indomitable scrambler and runner. She was a fighter."
[1]
She was a player of the old school. She held that a woman could not sustain a volleying attack in a long match. "I do not know a single girl who can play the net game."
[1] Therefore, she relied on her baseline game, consisting of strong forehand attacks and a ceaseless defense that wore down her opponents. She took the ball on the rise and drove it from corner to corner to keep her opponent on the constant run. Her quick returns made her passing shots extremely effective. She once said, "I find that the girls generally do not hit the ball as hard as they should. I believe in always hitting the ball with all my might, but there seems to be a disposition to 'just get it over' in many girls whom I have played. I do not call this tennis."
[1]
Her second round match with
Suzanne Lenglen at the
U.S. Championships in
1921 brought Mallory her greatest celebrity. Mallory won the first set 6-2, playing with a fury that took her opponent by surprise, running down balls that wore out the
French girl, and hitting forehand winners down the line. Lenglen, out of breath from running, began to cough and weep. Eventually she walked to the
umpire’s stand after losing the first three points of the second set and informed the official that she was ill and could not continue. This match ranks among the most sensational dramas ever recorded on the tennis court. After the match, the USTA accused Lenglen of feigning illness. The
French Tennis Federation (FTF) exonerated Lenglen and accepted her testimony (and a doctor's) that she had been ill. However, Albert de Joannis, vice president of the FTF who accompanied Lenglen during her trip to the United States, quit his post in protest of the FTF's conclusion. He claimed that Lenglen was "perfectly fit" during the match and that, "She was defeated by a player who on that date showed a better brand of tennis."
[1]
Lenglen avenged the loss by defeating Mallory 6-2, 6-0 in 26 minutes in the 1922
Wimbledon final. Lenglen said after the match, "Now, Mrs. Mallory, I have proved to you today what I could have done to you in New York last year," to which Mallory replied, "Mlle. Lenglen, you have done to me today what I did to you in New York last year; you have beaten me."
[1] The two played for the last time that summer in
Nice, France with Lenglen winning 6-0, 6-0.
Mallory won the singles title at the U.S. Championships a record eight times (1915-1922 and 1926 at age 42), and in 15 years at the tournament, her worst finish was a quarterfinal loss in
1927 at age 43.
Mallory yielded her string of consecutive titles to
Helen Wills Moody in
1923, losing 6-2, 6-1. In 1926, Mallory hit one of the heights of her career when she came back from 0-4 in the third set of the final against
Elizabeth Ryan, saving a match point in winning her eighth championship. She is the only woman other than
Chris Evert Lloyd to win the U.S. Championship four consecutive times.
Mallory was ranked in the world top ten in 1925, 1926, and 1927 (the first three years of those rankings). She was ranked in the U.S. top ten 13 times between 1915 and 1928 and was top ranked in 1915, 1916, 1918 through 1922, and 1926.
Her farewell to the U.S. Championships was as a 45-year-old semifinalist in 1929.
She was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame in
1958.
Grand Slam finals
Singles
Wins (8)
| 'Year | 'Championship | 'Opponent in Final | 'Score in Final |
| 1915 | U.S. Championships | Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman | 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 |
| 1916 | U.S. Championships (2nd) | Louise Raymond | 6-0, 6-1 |
| 1917 | U.S. Championships (3rd) | Marion Vanderhoef | 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 |
| 1918 | U.S. Championships (4th) | Eleanor Goss | 6-4, 6-3 |
| 1920 | U.S. Championships (5th) | Marion Zinderstein | 6-3, 6-1 |
| 1921 | U.S. Championships (8th) | Mary Browne | 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 |
| 1922 | U.S. Championships (7th) | Helen Wills Moody | 6-3, 6-1 |
| 1926 | U.S. Championships (8th) | Elizabeth Ryan | 4-6, 6-4, 9-7 |
Runner-ups (4)
Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
NH = tournament not held.
R = tournament restricted to French nationals.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
1Through 1923, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. The World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussells, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from that tournament are shown here from 1912 through 1914 and from 1920 through 1923. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.
See also
★
Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final
References
1. We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis, Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr, , , McGraw-Hill, 1988,
2. We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis, Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr, , , McGraw-Hill, 1988,
3. We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis, Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr, , , McGraw-Hill, 1988,
4. We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis, Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr, , , McGraw-Hill, 1988,
5. We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis, Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr, , , McGraw-Hill, 1988,
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