The amateur years
United States · born San Francisco, 1922 · died 2015 · Wimbledon doubles champion 1947 with Doris Hart, beating Louise Brough and Margaret Osborne in the final
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1947
Wimbledon doubles title with Doris Hart, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 over the top seeds
3
Further Wimbledon finals lost, 1948 to 1950
3
English grass titles in June 1949: Beckenham, Surbiton and the Northern
4
Career-high world ranking, in 1950
4-1
Wightman Cup doubles record, 1947 to 1951
Mary Patricia Canning was born in San Francisco on 22 July 1922. Her family lived next door to public courts, she picked up a racket at eight, and within five years she was touring the Pacific Northwest junior and women's events. She married Richard Todd, a naval officer, on Christmas Day 1941 and kept playing through the war and after the birth of her daughter in 1943. She was in the US top ten in 1942 and every year from 1944 to 1952. In 1946 the family moved to La Jolla, where William Kellogg of the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club sponsored her national and international travel.
Her best seasons came straight after the war. In 1947 she won the Wimbledon doubles with Doris Hart and then the French singles, which that year was played after Wimbledon. In 1948 she won the French doubles with Hart and the mixed with Jaroslav Drobný, and the same year she was defaulted from the French singles as defending champion. She lost Wimbledon finals in the doubles in 1948 and 1949 and the mixed in 1950, played Wightman Cup doubles from 1947 to 1951, and was ranked in the world top ten from 1946 to 1952, at best No. 4 in 1950.
On grass away from Wimbledon she won the Kent, Surrey and Northern titles in 1949 and the Eastern Grass Court Championships at South Orange in 1951, beating Maureen Connolly in the final. In the winter of 1949 to 1950 she toured India with Gussie Moran and won the Championships of India. She taught at La Costa from 1965 to 1985, was inducted into the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame in 2010, and died in Encinitas, California, on 5 September 2015, aged 93.
| Wimbledon 1947 doubles final | Seeded second with Doris Hart, beat the top seeds Louise Brough and Margaret Osborne 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 on Centre Court |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon finals lost | Doubles 1948 with Hart, to Brough and Osborne duPont 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; doubles 1949 with Gussie Moran, to the same pair 8-6, 7-5; mixed 1950 with Geoff Brown, to Eric Sturgess and Brough 11-9, 1-6, 6-4 |
| English grass, June 1949 | Kent at Beckenham, beat Sheila Piercey Summers 6-3, 6-0; Surrey at Surbiton, beat Jean Walker-Smith 6-3, 9-7; Northern, beat Leslie Hunter Fulton 6-3, 6-2 |
| South Orange and Surbiton | Won the 1951 Eastern Grass Court Championships, beating Maureen Connolly 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; lost the 1952 Surrey final to Connolly 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Women's doubles | with Doris Hart |
| Kent Championships (Beckenham) | ||
| 1949 | Women's singles†| |
| Northern Championships | ||
| 1949 | Women's singles†| |
| Surrey Championships (Surbiton) | ||
| 1949 | Women's singles†| |
| All India Championships | ||
| 1950 | Women's singles‡ | |
| Eastern Grass Court Championships (South Orange) | ||
| 1951 | 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 can scratch me if they like. I am not going to play anywhere but on the center court where my match is scheduled."
The person behind the player.
Alameda, 1930s
Her family lived beside the local public courts, and she first played at eight. Within five years her family was driving her round the Pacific Northwest circuit in their Model A Ford, to Portland, Tacoma, Seattle and Vancouver, where she won every division she entered.
Source: San Diego Tennis Hall of FameNew York, 1941
She met Richard Todd, a naval officer who helped run the 1941 US Nationals, and married him on Christmas Day that year. She told him tennis would always come first and he was second, and later insisted she had been joking.
Source: DB4TennisParis, 1947
In the French semi-final Margaret Osborne duPont won the first set 6-2 before a thunderstorm stopped play. Todd came back the next day, recovered from 1-3 down in the final set and won; the crowd was so loud in her favour that the referee reversed a line call to give her match point. She then beat Doris Hart for the title.
Source: WikipediaParis, 1948
As defending champion she refused to move her match from the centre court to Court 2, complaining of the late hour and the lack of a full set of linesmen. The officials defaulted her. At home the USLTA ranked her sixth that year, and she complained publicly that she was being punished for Paris.
Source: WikipediaIndia, 1949 to 1950
She toured India and Egypt with Gussie Moran, was put up in a maharajah's residence, and won the singles and doubles at both the Asian Championships and the Championships of India. She beat Moran 6-2, 6-2 in the Indian final.
Source: DB4TennisRancho Santa Fe
After her playing days she taught at La Costa Resort and Spa from 1965 to 1985, with many celebrity pupils, and kept a daily spot at the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club to follow the game.
Source: San Diego Tennis Hall of FameFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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