The amateur years
United States · born Oklahoma City, 1923 · died 2014 · four times Wimbledon champion
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4
Wimbledon singles titles, 1948 to 1955
13
Wimbledon titles across all three events
21
Wimbledon finals played out of 30, 1946 to 1955
9
US doubles titles in a row with duPont
22-0
Wightman Cup record, 1946 to 1956
Born Althea Louise Brough in Oklahoma City in 1923, she learned the game on the public courts at Roxbury Park in California under the coach Dick Skeen. At 19, in 1942, she reached the final of the US Championships, and she won the title in 1947. When Wimbledon resumed in 1946 she began a run in which she played 21 of the 30 finals across the three events over ten years, winning 13. With Margaret Osborne duPont she won nine US doubles titles in a row from 1942. Tennis elbow and trouble with her service toss slowed her from 1950, but she won Wimbledon again in 1955. She married Alan Clapp in 1958, taught juniors in California for about 20 years, entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1967 and died in 2014.
| Major singles titles | 6: Wimbledon (1948, 1949, 1950, 1955); Australian (1950); US (1947) |
|---|---|
| Major singles finals lost | 8: Wimbledon 1946, Wimbledon 1952, Wimbledon 1954, US 1942, US 1943, US 1948, US 1954, US 1957 |
| Other grass singles titles | 8: Eastern Grass Court Championships 4 (1942, 1944, 1948, 1954); Pennsylvania Championships 2 (1953, 1955); Irish Championships (1946); Kent (1955) |
| Major doubles titles | 18 doubles (Wimbledon 5, Australian 1, US 12), 8 mixed (Wimbledon 4, US 4) |
| Wimbledon finals won | 1948: beat Doris Hart 6-3, 8-6. 1949: beat Margaret Osborne duPont 10-8, 1-6, 10-8. 1950: beat duPont 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. 1955: beat Beverly Baker Fleitz 7-5, 8-6 |
| Wimbledon doubles | Won 1946, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1954 with Margaret Osborne duPont; runner-up 1947 and 1951 with duPont, 1952 with Maureen Connolly |
| Wimbledon mixed | Won 1946 with Tom Brown, 1947 and 1948 with John Bromwich, 1950 with Eric Sturgess; runner-up 1949 with Bromwich, 1955 with Enrique Morea |
| Triple crowns | Singles, doubles and mixed at Wimbledon in both 1948 and 1950 |
| US doubles | Nine titles in a row with duPont from 1942, the longest run in any major event; a 58-2 record together at the US Championships |
| Wightman Cup | 22 matches won and none lost, 1946 to 1956 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1946 | Mixed doubles | with Tom Brown |
| 1947 | Mixed doubles | with John Bromwich |
| 1948 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1948 | Mixed doubles | with John Bromwich |
| 1948 | Women's singles | |
| 1949 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1949 | Women's singles | |
| 1950 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1950 | Mixed doubles | with Eric Sturgess |
| 1950 | Women's singles | |
| 1954 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1955 | Women's singles | |
| US Championships | ||
| 1942 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1942 | Mixed doubles | with Ted Schroeder |
| 1943 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1944 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1945 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1946 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1947 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1947 | Mixed doubles | with John Bromwich |
| 1947 | Women's singles | |
| 1948 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1948 | Mixed doubles | with Tom Brown |
| 1949 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1949 | Mixed doubles | with Eric Sturgess |
| 1950 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1955 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1956 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1957 | Women's doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| Eastern Grass Court Championships (South Orange) | ||
| 1942 | Women's singles†| |
| 1944 | Women's singles†| |
| 1948 | Women's singles†| |
| 1954 | Women's singles†| |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 1947 | Women's singles†| |
| 1949 | Women's singles†| |
| 1954 | Women's singles†| |
| 1955 | Women's singles†| |
| Longwood Bowl | ||
| 1942 | Women's singles†| |
| 1946 | Women's singles†| |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1950 | Women's doubles | with Doris Hart |
| 1950 | Women's singles | |
| Pennsylvania Grass Court Championships (Merion) | ||
| 1953 | Women's singles†| |
| 1955 | Women's singles†| |
| Kent Championships (Beckenham) | ||
| 1955 | Women's singles†| |
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
"She got enormously high bounce on her serve. Women are notoriously feeble in their effort to return it, especially on the backhand."
The person behind the player.
Eastern grass, 1942
In July and August 1942, aged 19, she won five Eastern grass-court tournaments in a row, then reached the final at Forest Hills, where Pauline Betz beat her. War kept her away from Wimbledon for four more years; when it reopened in 1946, she reached the singles final and lost again to Betz.
Source: Tennis AbstractWimbledon 1949
All three finals fell on the same day. She beat her doubles partner, Margaret Osborne duPont, 10-8, 1-6, 10-8 in the singles, then went back out for the mixed with John Bromwich and lost in three long sets. By the end she had spent five and a half hours on court.
Source: Tennis AbstractForest Hills 1950
Her second-round match against Althea Gibson was halted by a lightning storm and finished the next day, when Brough came from 6-7 down in the third set to win 6-1, 3-6, 9-7. Gibson said later that she had "lost all sting" during the delay, and was plain about the result: "Louise beat me."
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameAustralia 1950 and after
On her 1950 trip to Australia she developed tennis elbow, perhaps from the wind or a heavy suitcase, and trouble with her service toss began at about the same time. Shirley Fry was saddened to see her tossing the ball up "with a quivering hand." She still won Wimbledon in 1955, beating Beverly Baker Fleitz 7-5, 8-6.
Source: Tennis AbstractWightman Cup, 1946 to 1956
On her debut against Britain in 1946 she won her singles and doubles quickly, the first of 22 Wightman Cup matches she won without a defeat. Her last appearance, in 1956, brought two three-set wins over Angela Buxton and Angela Mortimer.
Source: Tennis AbstractLooking back
Gladys Heldman, founder of World Tennis, said she "was very modest and never talked about her tennis." Brough's own verdict on her career was severe: "I just played too long." Remembering the pressure, she said: "All I can think of is how does anyone go through this?"
Source: Tennis AbstractFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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