Florence Ballin

Florence Ballin

Full name	Florence Antoinette Ballin
Country (sports)	United States
Born	April 27, 1887 New York City, NY, United States
Died	April 1, 1975 (aged 87)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
US Open	F (1916, 1917, 1919)

Florence A. Ballin was an American female tennis player. She played in the mix doubles in the early 1900s. She made it to three US Open finals with Bill Tilden, but they lost in every final.

Career

In 1915 Ballin reached the doubles final at the US Indoor Championships, playing with Molla Bjursted, but lost in three sets.

Ballin reached the final of the mixed doubles competition at the U.S. National Championships on three occasions (1916, 1917, 1919).^[1] Each time she partnered with tennis legend and multiple champion Bill Tilden but they lost all three finals, coming closest to success in 1919 when they were defeated in three sets by Marion Zinderstein and Vincent Richards.

In 1919 she wrote a tennis book titled Tennis for Girls.^[2]

In 1920 she won the women's championships of New Jersey^[3] and Long Island.^[4] She won the women's lawn tennis championship of Pennsylvania and Eastern States in 1922 defeating Anne Townsend in straight sets.^[5]

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles (3 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Runner-up	1916	U.S. Championships	Bill Tilden	Eleonora Sears Willis E. Davis	4–6, 5–7
Runner-up	1917	U.S. Championships	Bill Tilden	Molla Bjurstedt Irving Wright	12–10, 1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	1919	U.S. Championships	Bill Tilden	Marion Zinderstein Vincent Richards	6–2, 9–11, 2–6

References

1. Collins, Bud (2010). The Bud Collins History of Tennis (2nd ed.). [New York]: New Chapter Press. p. 481. ISBN 978-0942257700.
2. Ballin, Florence (1919). Tennis for Girls (PDF). New York: American Sports Publishing Company. OCLC 613230889. OL 7171663M.
3. "Miss Ballin Takes New Jersey Title". The New York Times. June 21, 1920.
4. "Miss Ballin Takes Long Island Title". The New York Times. August 2, 1920.
5. "Miss Ballin Wins Title" (PDF). The New York Times. June 19, 1922.