The Open Era
Australia · born Brisbane, 1947 · died 1977 · right-handed · Eastbourne champion, Australian doubles champion and the name on the WTA's sportsmanship award
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1.85m
Height; the tour called her the Gentle Giant
1968
Australian doubles champion with Kerry Melville
No. 9
World singles ranking in 1970
1974
Wimbledon doubles final with Helen Gourlay
1978
First year of the WTA award that bears her name
Karen Krantzcke was born in Brisbane and won the Australian junior title in 1966, the year she also beat Margaret Court and won her first titles abroad, at Beckenham and at the Pennsylvania championships at Merion. With Kerry Melville she won the 1968 Australian Championships doubles, the last major played under all-amateur rules. Her best season was 1969 to 1970: she won Eastbourne in 1969, reached the semi-finals of the Australian and French championships and the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 1970, finished the year in the world top 10, and with Judy Dalton won the 1970 Federation Cup for Australia without losing a rubber.
Health problems cut short her 1971 season and a forearm injury kept her out for much of 1975 and 1976, but she won the New South Wales title twice, beating Evonne Goolagong in both finals, and with Helen Gourlay reached the 1974 Wimbledon doubles final. She was an early member of the Virginia Slims circuit. In April 1977, after winning a doubles title in Tallahassee, Florida, she collapsed while out running and died, aged 30. The WTA's sportsmanship award, voted by the players, has carried her name since 1978.
| Eastbourne | 1969: won the singles, beating Betty Ann Grubb 6-0, 9-7. 1974: won the doubles with Helen Gourlay, the week before their Wimbledon final |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon | Singles quarter-final 1970. Doubles final 1974 with Helen Gourlay, lost to Evonne Goolagong and Peggy Michel 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Mixed doubles semi-finals 1969 and 1973. Won the All England Ladies' Plate in 1972, beating Sharon Walsh 6-1, 6-4 |
| Australian doubles finals | Won 1968 with Kerry Melville, beating Judy Tegart and Lesley Turner 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Lost 1970 with Melville to Margaret Court and Judy Dalton 6-3, 6-1, and 1972 with Patricia Coleman to Helen Gourlay and Kerry Harris 6-0, 6-4 |
| Sydney | New South Wales Open champion 1973, beating Evonne Goolagong 4-6, 6-3, 10-8, and January 1974, beating her again 6-2, 6-3, the biggest singles title of her career |
| 1966 | Kent Championships at Beckenham, won by walkover from Maria Bueno in the final; Pennsylvania championships at Merion, beating Peaches Bartkowicz 6-1, 6-2 |
| Eastbourne | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Women's singles†South of England Championships | |
| 1974 | Women's doubles†| with Helen Gourlay |
| New South Wales Championships | ||
| 1973 | Women's singles†New South Wales Open | |
| 1974 | Women's singles†New South Wales Open | |
| Kent Championships (Beckenham) | ||
| 1966 | Women's singles†| |
| Pennsylvania Grass Court Championships (Merion) | ||
| 1966 | Women's singles†| |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1968 | Women's doubles | with Kerry Melville Reid |
| Queensland Championships | ||
| 1968 | Women's singles†| |
| Bristol (West of England) | ||
| 1972 | Women's doubles†Bristol Open | with Helen Gourlay |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"Karen was always so gentle, kind to everyone, softly spoken and dedicated to improving her tennis."
The person behind the player.
The tour, 1970s
At 1.85m she towered over most of her opponents, and her calm manner earned her the nickname the Gentle Giant; Helen Gourlay called her Kran. Peachy Kellmeyer, the WTA's first director, remembered that "everyone loved her" and that she "was always there with a smile", and added: "I've never met anyone who sweated so much!"
Source: WTAFreiburg, 1970
She and Judy Dalton won the Federation Cup for Australia without losing a rubber. They shared a small room with no laundry service, so their tennis clothes were dried in the room each day. "We could never have achieved a win like that but for our friendship," Dalton said.
Source: WTAOff court
Helen Gourlay, her doubles partner, described her as a woman of great faith who loved the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Source: WTAWimbledon, 1972
In 1972 she won the All England Ladies' Plate, the event for players beaten early in the Championships, beating Sharon Walsh 6-1, 6-4 in the final.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025Tallahassee, April 1977
On Easter Sunday 1977 she won the doubles at the Lionel Cup in Tallahassee with Kym Ruddell, told officials she would collect her prize money after a run, and collapsed near the club. She could not be revived. Gourlay stayed on in Tallahassee to arrange her return home and called her death one of the saddest experiences of her life.
Source: WTAFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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