Maria Bueno

Maria Esther Bueno

Country	Brazil
Residence	São Paulo
Born	11 October 1939 (1939-10-11) (age 72) São Paulo, Brazil
Turned pro	1950
Retired	1977
Plays	Right-handed
Int. Tennis HOF	1979 (member page)
Singles
Career titles	71 during open era
Highest ranking	1 (1959, 1960, 1964, 1966)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	F (1965)
French Open	F (1964)
Wimbledon	W (1959, 1960, 1964)
US Open	W (1959, 1963, 1964, 1966)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1960)
French Open	W (1960)
Wimbledon	W (1958, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1966)
US Open	W (1960, 1962,1966, 1968)
Last updated on: 7 september 2010.

Maria Esther Andion Bueno (born October 11, 1939) is a former professional tennis player from Brazil. During her 11-year career (plus a two-year comeback in 1976-77), she won 19 Major titles (seven singles, 11 women's doubles, one mixed doubles).

In 1960, Bueno became the first woman ever to win all four Grand Slam double titles in one year (three with Darlene Hard and one with Christine Truman Janes).

Career

Bueno began playing tennis at a very young age and, without having received any formal training, won her first tournament at age 12. She was 14 when she captured her country’s women's singles championship.

Joining the international circuit in 1958, Bueno won the singles title at the Italian Championships and the first of her Grand Slam titles, capturing the women's doubles at Wimbledon with Althea Gibson.

The following year, Bueno won her first singles title at Wimbledon, defeating Darlene Hard in the final. She also won the singles title at the U.S. Championships, earning the World No. 1 ranking for 1959 and the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award. Bueno was the first non-North-American woman (she is an American - South American - woman) to capture both Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships in the same calendar year. In her native Brazil, she returned as a national heroine, honored by the country’s president and given a ticker-tape parade on the streets of São Paulo.

According to Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail and Bud Collins, Bueno was ranked in the world top ten from 1958 through 1960 and from 1962 through 1968, reaching a career high of World No. 1 in those rankings in 1959 and 1960.^[1] The International Tennis Hall of Fame also lists her as the top ranked player in 1964 (after losing the final at the French Championships and winning both Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships) and 1966.

Bueno won the singles title at Wimbledon three times and at the U.S. Championships four times. She was a singles finalist at the Australian Championships and the French Championships, losing both finals to Margaret Court. Bueno reached at least the quarterfinals in each of the first 26 Grand Slam singles tournaments she played. This streak ended at Wimbledon in 1967 when she lost in the fourth round because of an arm injury.

As a doubles player, Bueno won twelve Grand Slam championships with six different partners. In 1960, she became the first woman to win the women's doubles title at all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same calendar year, partnered by Christine Truman Janes at the Australian Championships and Hard at the French Championships, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Championships.

In 1978, Bueno was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

At the 2006 US Open, Maria Bueno was invited to attend the rededication ceremony of the USTA National Tennis Center as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, which took place on the first day of the event. Bueno and King were rivals in singles and, on occasion, doubles partners. According to Bueno, the only players invited were those who had won the US Open "more than twice" (she won it four times). At the same event, Bueno debuted as a commentator for SporTV, a Brazilian cable television sports channel. She commentated on the women's singles semifinals and final and the men's singles final. She also offered opinions during the live broadcast of the USTA's induction of Martina Navrátilová and Don Budge in the "Court of Champions," as well as during day-end "round tables" in the last three days of the event.

Grand Slam finals (35)

Bueno won 19 and lost 16 of her Grand Slam finals. This represents a success rate of 54%.

Women's singles: 12 (7 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1959	Wimbledon	Grass	Darlene Hard	6–4, 6–3
Winner	1959	U.S. Championships	Grass	Christine Truman Janes	6–1, 6–4
Winner	1960	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Sandra Reynolds Price	8–6, 6–0
Runner-up	1960	U.S. Championships	Grass	Darlene Hard	6–4, 10–12, 6–4
Winner	1963	U.S. Championships (2)	Grass	Margaret Court	7–5, 6–4
Runner-up	1964	French Championships	Clay	Margaret Court	5–7, 6–1, 6–2
Winner	1964	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	Margaret Court	6–4, 7–9, 6–3
Winner	1964	U.S. Championships (3)	Grass	Carole Caldwell Graebner	6–1, 6–0
Runner-up	1965	Australian Championships	Grass	Margaret Court	5–7, 6–4, 5–2, retired
Runner-up	1965	Wimbledon	Grass	Margaret Court	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	1966	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Billie Jean King	6–3, 3–6, 6–1
Winner	1966	U.S. Championships (4)	Grass	Nancy Richey	6–3, 6–1

Women's doubles (16)

Wins (11)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1958	Wimbledon	Althea Gibson	Margaret Osborne duPont Margaret Varner Bloss	6–3, 7–5
1960	Australian Championships	Christine Truman Janes	Lorraine Coghlan Robinson Margaret Court	6–2, 5–7, 6–2
1960	French Championships	Darlene Hard	Ann Haydon Jones Patricia Ward Hales	6–2, 7–5
1960	Wimbledon (2)	Darlene Hard	Sandra Reynolds Price Renee Schuurman Haygarth	6–4, 6–0
1960	U.S. Championships	Darlene Hard	Ann Haydon Jones Deidre Catt	6–1, 6–1
1962	U.S. Championships (2)	Darlene Hard	Billie Jean King Karen Hantze Susman	4–6, 6–3, 6–2
1963	Wimbledon (3)	Darlene Hard	Margaret Court Robyn Ebbern	8–6, 9–7
1965	Wimbledon (4)	Billie Jean King	Françoise Durr Jeanine Lieffrig	6–2, 7–5
1966	Wimbledon (5)	Nancy Richey	Margaret Court Judy Tegart Dalton	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
1966	U.S. Championships (3)	Nancy Richey	Billie Jean King Rosemary Casals	6–3, 6–4
1968	US Open (4)	Margaret Court	Billie Jean King Rosmary Casals	4–6, 9–7, 8–6

Runner-ups (5)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1958	U.S. Championships	Althea Gibson	Jeanne Arth Darlene Hard	2–6, 6–3, 6–4
1959	U.S. Championships (2)	Sally Moore	Jeanne Arth Darlene Hard	6–2, 6–3
1961	French Championships	Darlene Hard	Sandra Reynolds Price Renee Schuurman Haygarth	walkover
1963	U.S. Championships (3)	Darlene Hard	Margaret Court Robyn Ebbern	4–6, 10–8, 6–3
1967	Wimbledon	Nancy Richey	Rosemary Casals Billie Jean King	9–11, 6–4, 6–2

Mixed doubles (7)

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1960	French Championships	Bob Howe	Ann Haydon Jones Roy Emerson	1–6, 6–1, 6–2

Runner-ups (6)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1958	U.S. Championships	Alex Olmedo	Margaret Osborne duPont Neale Fraser	6–3, 3–6, 9–7
1959	Wimbledon	Neale Fraser	Darlene Hard Rod Laver	6–4, 6–3
1960	Wimbledon (2)	Bob Howe	Darlene Hard Rod Laver	13–11, 3–6, 8–6
1960	U.S. Championships (2)	Antonio Palafox	Margaret Osborne duPont Neale Fraser	6–3, 6–2
1965	French Championships	John Newcombe	Margaret Court Ken Fletcher	6–4, 6–4
1967	Wimbledon (3)	Ken Fletcher	Billie Jean King Owen Davidson	3–6, 6–2, 15–13

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969-1975	1976	1977	Career SR
Australia	A	A	QF	A	A	A	A	F	A	A	A	A	A	A / A	0 / 2
France	SF	QF	SF	QF	A	A	F	SF	SF	QF	QF	A	1R	A	0 / 10
Wimbledon	QF	W	W	A	SF	QF	W	F	F	4R	QF	A	4R	3R	3 / 12
United States	QF	W	F	A	SF	W	W	SF	W	2R	SF	A	3R	2R	4 / 12
SR	0 / 3	2 / 3	1 / 4	0 / 1	0 / 2	1 / 2	2 / 3	0 / 4	1 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 0	0 / 3	0 / 2	7 / 36

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.

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final
• Wimbledon champions (Ladies' Singles)
• Wimbledon champions (Ladies' Doubles)
• US Open champions (Women's Singles)
• US Open champions (Women's Doubles)
• Australian Open champions (Women's Doubles)
• French Open champions (Women's Doubles)
• French Open champions (Mixed Doubles)

External links

• International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Maria Bueno Website
• Maria Bueno at the Women's Tennis Association

References

1. ^ Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 703. ISBN 0-942257-41-3. 

Persondata
Name	Bueno, Maria
Alternative names
Short description	Tennis player
Date of birth	11 October 1939
Place of birth	São Paulo, Brazil
Date of death
Place of death