Web Page No 2448
12th February 2018
Second Picture: The Truman/Janes family
Third Picture: Christine and Angela Mortimer at Wimbledon 2011
Fourth Picture: Christine Truman today.
Christine Truman
Christine Truman Janes MBE was born 16th January 1941and was one of the great hopes
for British tennis in the 1950’s. It is a sobering thought that when Serena
Williams won the French Open, she received about £1,278,000. Give or take a few
pounds. When teenager Christine Truman triumphed at the same tournament in
1959, with Yul Brynner among the spectators, she received just £40 in expenses
as this was still the era of the amateur.
That £40 wasn’t just
for the 6-4, 7-5 win over Hungarian Zsuzsa Körmöczy because for a few weeks,
the 18-year-old British girl had been queen of the courts, taking the Italian
and Swiss titles before conquering Paris. By the time she got to Paris in 1959
she was pretty much a star already. It might still be an amateur sport, but
Slazenger helped by supplying her rackets and shoes and her dresses were being
made ever since she became British junior champion of 1956 and 1957.
In 1957, the year she
had been a debutante, she’d been a semi-finalist at Wimbledon and was beaten by
the eventual champion Althea Gibson. In 1958 she went out in the fourth round, but
it was a great year. She caused a sensation by beating Althea Gibson in the
Wightman Cup, helping bring the crown back to Britain after 21 consecutive
defeats by the US.
In 1959, at
Wimbledon, The Sydney Morning Herald’s correspondent called her the Fair Giant.
(She’s 6ft 1in.) Meanwhile another observer wrote that Christine was really two
different people. On the courts she is a killer; off the courts a sweet,
charming and unsophisticated girl. However, there’s no fairy-tale ending.
Christine goes out in the fourth round. Later that year, though, she reaches
the final of the US National Championships at Forest Hills in New York, this
was the forerunner of the US Open.
The following year,
she loses her Wimbledon semi-final round to Maria Bueno. Then, 1961 the
tournament at the All England Lawn Tennis Club brings something special. It’s
an all-British final in the ladies’ singles: Christine against Angela Mortimer.
For a long time it
looks as if the 20-year-old from Essex, the younger girl being the darling of
the crowd, will give them what they want. She goes a set and is 4-3 up. Then
she slips, reigniting an Achilles injury of old, she loses concentration
because of the fall, and goes down 6-4, 4-6, 5-7. Christine received lots of
sympathy, including boxes of chocolates and flowers sent by well-wishers and
2,000 or so letters of commiseration. There was even a telegram from Sir
Winston Churchill. There won’t ever be another Wimbledon final appearance for
her, though she does reach the semis in 1965; and there’s another semi in
France.
She acknowledges her
best years were between the ages of 16 and 21. “I never really regained that. I
was never again in the 110% zone of concentration and dedication as I was then.
The reason was simple I met boyfriends! I was engaged at 21and unengaged at
22.”
In 1967 she married
Gerry Janes, who’d played rugby for Wasps, and the first of their four children
arrived in 1970, one of their children is the former pro tennis
player Amanda
Keen. . Christine says she
“sort of petered out”, tennis-wise, in the middle of that decade. “I know I
played Martina Navratilova in her first Wimbledon. (Christine lost 1-6, 4-6.) I
could tell straight away she was something special. She was fast, she was
powerful, she was good!”
In 1974 she reached
the third round, where she was defeated by fellow Britain Lesley Charles.
Christine then adopted another career and became a Wimbledon-time fixture on
BBC radio for over 34 years.
Keep in
touch
Yours
Peter
gsseditor@gmail.com
You Write:
News and Views:
ON THIS DAY 12th February
1960-1965
On 12/02/1960
the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash
was Some Like It Hot. A pound of
today's money was worth £13.68
and Burnley were on the way to
becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
On 12/02/1961
the number one single was Are you Lonesome Tonight? - Elvis
Presley and
the number one album was GI Blues -
Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's
Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was 18 US figure skaters killed in air crash.
On 12/02/1962
the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard &
the Shadows and
the number one album was Blue Hawaii -
Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1
champions.
On 12/02/1963
the number one single was Diamonds -
Jet Harris & Tony Meehan and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the
Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's
money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming
the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Liz Taylor films Cleopatra.
On 12/02/1964
the number one single was Needles &
Pins - Searchers and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1
champions.
On 12/02/1965
the number one single was You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' -
Righteous Brothers and
the number one album was Rolling Stones
Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's
money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to
becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Canada's Maple Leaf flag raised for first
time
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