The amateur years
Great Britain · born 1933 · twice Wimbledon girls' champion · daughter of the long jumper Muriel Cornell
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2
Wimbledon girls' singles titles, 1950 and 1951
4R
Wimbledon ladies' singles, 1951 and 1963
1948
Named a British Olympic long jump possible
2
St George's Hill Open singles titles, 1961 and 1964
Born on 3 January 1933, Cornell was the daughter of Muriel Gunn-Cornell, a former world record holder in the long jump, and as a teenager she was herself named among the possibles to jump for Britain at the 1948 Olympics. She chose tennis, won the Wimbledon girls' singles in 1950 and 1951, and in 1951 also reached the fourth round of the ladies' singles. In 1953 she married the Australian coach Peter Cawthorn and played on as Lorna Cawthorn, reaching the Wimbledon fourth round again in 1963, the third round of the French Championships in 1965 and the second round of the US Championships in 1963. She won the St George's Hill Open singles in 1961 and 1964 and late in her career competed as Lorna Greville-Collins.
| Major singles titles | 2: Wimbledon (1950, 1951) |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon girls' finals | 1950: beat A. Winter of Norway 6-2, 6-4. 1951: beat Sylvana Lazzarino of Italy 6-3, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon ladies' singles | Fourth round 1951, lost to Shirley Fry 0-6, 1-6. Fourth round 1963 as Lorna Cawthorn, lost to Donna Fales 0-6, 4-6 |
| Wimbledon doubles and mixed | Doubles third round 1954 and 1965; mixed fourth round 1952 and 1955 |
| Eastbourne | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Women's singles†South of England Championships | |
| 1967 | Women's singles†South of England Championships | |
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
"the eventual winner Lorna Cornell, who went on to become Lorna Cawthorn and a Wimbledon regular at senior level herself in the following years"
The person behind the player.
Wimbledon 1950 and 1951
Aged 17, Cornell won the girls' singles in 1950, beating A. Winter of Norway 6-2, 6-4 in the final. She defended the title in 1951 against the Italian Sylvana Lazzarino, 6-3, 6-4. Among the girls she beat that year was June Ann Byrne, 17, of Ireland, who decades later became an over-85s world champion.
Source: The42Wimbledon 1951
In the same Championships as her second girls' title, Cornell won three rounds of the ladies' singles and reached the fourth round. There she met the American Shirley Fry, the fourth seed and that year's runner-up, and lost 6-0, 6-1.
Source: WikipediaLondon, 1947
Her mother, Muriel Cornell, set world records in the long jump in the 1920s and a British record in 1930 that stood for 23 years. Lorna also jumped, and in December 1947 she was named on the list of possibles to represent Britain in the long jump at the 1948 Olympics.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 1963
In 1953 she married the Australian coach Peter Cawthorn, and an Australian newspaper headlined the news "Weds His Pupil". Playing as Lorna Cawthorn, she reached the fourth round of the Wimbledon ladies' singles again in 1963, twelve years after her first run there, and lost to the American Donna Fales.
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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