The amateur years
United States · born San Angelo, Texas, 1942 · Australian champion 1967 · Wimbledon doubles champion 1966
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6-1, 6-4
Australian final 1967, against Lesley Turner
4
Grass major doubles titles, 1965 and 1966
SF
Best Wimbledon singles result, 1968
No. 2
World ranking, 1969
Born in San Angelo, Texas, on 23 August 1942, Richey was taught by her father George, a teaching professional, alongside her brother Cliff; they were the first brother and sister ranked together in the US top ten. A baseliner with the hardest groundstrokes in the game, as World Tennis put it in 1964, she won six straight US Clay Court titles from 1963 to 1968. She won the Australian title in 1967 and the French in 1968, lost three major finals in 1966 and the 1969 US Open final, and reached No. 2 in the world in 1969. She played the Wightman Cup from 1962 to 1970 and won the Federation Cup in 1969. In 1970 she was one of the Original 9 who founded the women's tour. She entered the Hall of Fame in 2003.
| Major singles titles | 1: Australian (1967) |
|---|---|
| Major singles finals lost | 3: Australian 1966, US 1966, US 1969 |
| Other grass singles titles | 2: Queen's (1967); Tasmanian Championships, Hobart (1967) |
| Major doubles titles | 4 doubles (Wimbledon 1, Australian 1, US 2) |
| Wimbledon doubles | Champion 1966 with Maria Bueno, beating Margaret Smith and Judy Tegart 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Runners-up 1967 with Bueno, losing to Rosie Casals and Billie Jean King 11-9, 4-6, 2-6 |
| Wimbledon singles | Quarter-final 1966; semi-final 1968 as third seed, beaten by Judy Tegart |
| Other grass majors in doubles | US 1965 with Carole Graebner, beating Billie Jean King and Karen Hantze 6-4, 6-4; Australian 1966 with Graebner; US 1966 with Bueno, beating Casals and King 6-3, 6-4 |
| Finals to remember | Australian 1967, Memorial Drive, Adelaide: beat Lesley Turner 6-1, 6-4. Queen's 1967: beat Kerry Melville 2-6, 6-2, 6-4. US 1969, Forest Hills: lost to Margaret Court 6-2, 6-2 |
| Other grass titles | Hobart 1967, beating Turner 6-4, 6-2. At Queen's in 1968 she reached the final against Ann Jones, which was rained off and never played |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Women's doubles | with Maria Bueno |
| US Championships | ||
| 1965 | Women's doubles | with Carole Graebner |
| 1966 | Women's doubles | with Maria Bueno |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1966 | Women's doubles | with Carole Graebner |
| 1967 | Women's singles | |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 1967 | 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
"They'll be going at each other with sledgehammers."
The person behind the player.
Australian Championships 1966
On the 1966 Australian tour she tore cartilage in her left knee and had to default the final to Margaret Smith. It was the first of three major finals she lost that year, and she returned twelve months later to win the title.
Source: Tennis AbstractAdelaide 1967
In January 1967 she beat Lesley Turner 6-4, 6-2 in the Hobart final, then beat the same player 6-1, 6-4 in the Australian final on the grass at Memorial Drive. It was her first major singles title, and the first of seven titles she won that year.
Source: Tennis AbstractForest Hills 1966
Billie Jean King accused Richey of skipping the grass warm-up events before Forest Hills to avoid playing her. Richey said the same of King and the US Clay Courts. Clark Graebner expected their Forest Hills meeting to be fought with sledgehammers.
Source: Tennis AbstractNew York 1968
Her father George coached her on a rule of "Thou Shalt Not Smile on the Court". After beating King from 5-1 down and a match point in the second set at Madison Square Garden, she threw her racket towards the ceiling, allowed herself a slight smile and called it her most satisfying win.
Source: Sports IllustratedWardrobe
Richey liked wearing Teddy Tinling's designs. Because she played in jumpsuits, she was given the fabric left over from other players' dresses. She has kept everything he made for her, except one piece she gave to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Source: WTAParis and London 1968
Still an amateur when she won the first open French Championships in 1968, she turned down the prize money for fear of a ban from the Federation Cup. Her pay, she recalled, was a per diem of $27 a day, which the USTA did not pay her until she reached Wimbledon.
Source: Roland-GarrosFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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