Between the wars
Australia · from Caulfield, Victoria · three times Australian girls' champion, 1938 to 1940
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3
Australian girls' singles titles, 1938 to 1940
3
Australian girls' doubles titles with Alison Burton
3
Grass venues: Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney
1946
Defended her women's singles title in Perth
Joyce Beryl Wood came from Caulfield, Victoria, and won the girls' singles at the Australian Championships three years running, from 1938 to 1940, each time also taking the girls' doubles with Alison Burton. The titles came on grass in three different cities: at Memorial Drive in Adelaide in 1938, at Kooyong in Melbourne in 1939 and at White City in Sydney in 1940. Her third title was the last before the championships stopped for the Second World War; the girls' event was not held again until 1946. In 1943 she married Max McDermott, also a tennis player, in Melbourne, and the couple moved to Perth. She kept playing in Western Australia and in April 1946 defended her women's singles title in Perth.
| Major singles titles | 3: Australian (1938, 1939, 1940) |
|---|---|
| Major doubles titles | 3: Australian (1938, 1939, 1940) |
| Girls' doubles partner | Alison Burton, in all three title years, 1938, 1939 and 1940 |
| Championship venues | 1938: Memorial Drive, Adelaide. 1939: Kooyong, Melbourne. 1940: White City, Sydney |
| Women's singles | Defended her women's singles title in Perth in April 1946 |
The person behind the player.
Australian Championships 1938 to 1940
Wood's doubles partner in all three of her title years was Alison Burton, a left-handed Melbourne schoolgirl from Huntingtower School who also played for Victoria in the Wilson Cup. Burton was runner-up for the Australian junior singles title in 1938 and 1939, the two years in which Wood won it, and in 1952 reached the women's doubles final.
Source: WikipediaSydney 1940
Wood completed her hat-trick at White City in January 1940. It was the last girls' championship for six years: the honour roll records no competition from 1941 to 1945, and the title did not change hands again until Shirley Grant won it in 1946.
Source: Australian OpenPerth 1946
In 1943 Wood married Max McDermott, a fellow tennis player, in Melbourne, and the couple settled in Perth. Three years later, now playing in Western Australia, she defended her women's singles title in Perth in April 1946. The Daily News covered the story under the headline "Tennis Family".
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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