Between the wars
Norway and United States · born Mosvik, Norway, 1884 · died 1959 · eight times US champion
All playersBack to the rankings
8
US singles titles, a record
4
US titles in a row, 1915 to 1918
42
Her age at the 1926 US title
26
Minutes in the 1922 Wimbledon final
No. 2
World ranking in 1921 and 1922
Born Anna Margrethe Bjurstedt in Mosvik, Norway, in 1884, she won a bronze medal for Norway at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, the first woman to represent the country at the Games. She arrived in the United States in 1914, aged 30, and won the US singles title the next year. She won it eight times in 15 attempts between 1915 and 1926, a record, beating eight different opponents in the finals. She married Franklin Mallory, a stockbroker, in 1919. She was ranked second in the world in 1921 and 1922, reached the Wimbledon final in 1922, and played her last US Championships in 1929 at 45. She was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1958 and died in Stockholm in 1959.
| Major singles titles | 8: US (1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1926) |
|---|---|
| Major singles finals lost | 3: Wimbledon 1922, US 1923, US 1924 |
| Other grass singles titles | 5: Seabright 3 (1921, 1922, 1923); Eastern Grass Court Championships (1927); Pennsylvania Championships (1916) |
| Major doubles titles | 2 doubles (US 2), 3 mixed (US 3) |
| Titles kept in a challenge round | 2: US (1916, 1918). Scored as a final won, not a full draw (-8 points). |
| Wimbledon | Final 1922, lost to Suzanne Lenglen 6-2, 6-0 in 26 minutes. Semi-finals 1920 and 1926. Ten appearances, 1909 to 1929 |
| US doubles and mixed partners | Doubles: 1916 and 1917 with Eleonora Sears. Mixed: 1917 with Irving Wright; 1922 and 1923 with Bill Tilden |
| Finals to remember | US 1915: beat Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman 4-6, 6-2, 6-0. US 1926: beat Elizabeth Ryan 4-6, 6-4, 9-7 from 0-4 down in the third set, after saving a match point |
| Against Lenglen | US Championships 1921, second round at Forest Hills: won the first set 6-2 before Suzanne Lenglen retired ill |
| Wightman Cup | Played for the United States, including the 1923 and 1927 ties |
| US Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1915 | Women's singles | |
| 1916 | Women's doubles | with Eleonora Sears |
| 1916 | Women's singles | |
| 1917 | Women's doubles | with Eleonora Sears |
| 1917 | Mixed doubles | with Irving Wright |
| 1917 | Women's singles | |
| 1918 | Women's singles | |
| 1920 | Women's singles | |
| 1921 | Women's singles | |
| 1922 | Mixed doubles‡ | with Bill Tilden |
| 1922 | Women's singles | |
| 1923 | Mixed doubles | with Bill Tilden |
| 1926 | Women's singles | |
| Longwood Bowl | ||
| 1915 | Women's singles†| |
| 1918 | Women's singles†| |
| 1922 | Women's singles†| |
| 1923 | Women's singles†| |
| Seabright Invitational | ||
| 1921 | Women's singles†| |
| 1922 | Women's singles†| |
| 1923 | Women's singles†| |
| 1927 | Women's singles†| |
| Pennsylvania Grass Court Championships (Merion) | ||
| 1916 | Women's singles†| |
| Eastern Grass Court Championships (South Orange) | ||
| 1927 | 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
"I believe in always hitting the ball with all my might."
The person behind the player.
New York, 1914
Two years after winning an Olympic bronze medal for Norway, she arrived in the United States at 30, with little notice taken, to work as a masseuse. Within a year she was national champion, coming back from a set down to beat Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman in the 1915 final at the age of 31.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameForest Hills 1921
Bill Tilden told her to "hit the cover off the ball" against Suzanne Lenglen in front of more than 8,000 people. She took the first set 6-2 while Lenglen coughed. Early in the second set Lenglen went to the umpire's chair and retired, saying she was ill. American writers coined the phrase "cough and quit", and Mallory went on to win the title.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 1922
Lenglen had her revenge in the Wimbledon final, 6-2, 6-0 in 26 minutes. She reportedly told Mallory: "Now, Mrs. Mallory, I have proved to you today what I could have done to you in New York last year." Mallory answered that she had beaten her. Lenglen later denied the exchange and said she had only said thank you.
Source: WikipediaForest Hills 1926
In the US final against Elizabeth Ryan she lost the first set, trailed 0-4 in the third and faced a match point. She won the set 9-7 and with it her eighth title, eleven years after her first. At 42 she remains the oldest woman to win the championship.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameOn the game
She had no time for women who played safe. "I find that the girls generally do not hit the ball as hard as they should," she said, and of players who only wanted to get a rally over with: "I do not call this tennis." She was equally sure that no woman could keep up a volleying attack through a long match.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameForest Hills 1929
She played her final US Championships in 1929, fifteen years after arriving in America, and reached the semi-finals at the age of 45. There she met Helen Wills, the player who had taken her title away in 1923, and lost 6-0, 6-0.
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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