Shirley Fry Irvin

Shirley Fry Irvin

Doris Hart, Shirley Fry Irvin and Maureen Connolly in the Netherlands in 1953
Full name	Shirley June Fry Irvin
Country (sports)	United States
Born	June 30, 1927 Akron, Ohio
Plays	Right–handed
Int. Tennis HoF	1970 (member page)
Singles
Highest ranking	No. 1 (1956)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1957)
French Open	W (1951)
Wimbledon	W (1956)
US Open	W (1956)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1957)
French Open	W (1950, 1951, 1952, 1953)
Wimbledon	W1951, 1952, 1953)
US Open	W (1951, 1952, 1953, 1954)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
French Open	F (1952)
Wimbledon	W (1956)
US Open	F (1951, 1955)

Shirley June Fry Irvin (born June 30, 1927) is a former world number-one-ranked American tennis player.

She is one of 10 women (along with Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, Steffi Graf, Doris Hart, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Maria Sharapova, and Serena Williams) to have won each Grand Slam singles tournament at least once during her career. She is also one of six women (with Hart, Court, Navratilova, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams) to have won all four Grand Slam doubles tournaments.

At the U.S. National Championship (precursor of the U.S. Open) in 1942, Irvin reached the singles quarterfinals at the age of 15. At Wimbledon in 1953, Irvin and Hart lost only four games during the entire women's doubles tournament and won three matches without losing a game, including the semifinals and finals, the latter over Connolly and Julie Sampson Haywood.

Irvin won the last three Grand Slam singles tournaments she entered, including wins over Althea Gibson in the Wimbledon quarterfinal and U.S. Championship final in 1956 and the Australian Open final in 1957.

Irvin was ranked in the world top ten in 1946 and 1948 and from 1950 through 1955 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), and number one in 1956.^[1] The United States Lawn Tennis Association ranked her in the U.S. top ten from 1944 through 1955 and number one in 1956.^[2] She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1970.

Grand Slam record

• Australian Championships
  • Singles champion: 1957
  • Women's Doubles champion: 1957
• French Championships
  • Singles champion: 1951
  • Singles runner-up: 1948, 1952
  • Women's Doubles champion: 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953
  • Women's Doubles runner-up: 1948
  • Mixed Doubles runner-up: 1952
• Wimbledon
  • Singles champion: 1956
  • Singles runner-up: 1951
  • Women's Doubles champion: 1951, 1952, 1953
  • Women's Doubles runner-up: 1950, 1954
  • Mixed Doubles champion: 1956
  • Mixed Doubles runner-up: 1953
• U.S. Championships
  • Singles champion: 1956
  • Singles runner-up: 1951
  • Women's Doubles champion: 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954
  • Women's Doubles runner-up: 1949, 1950, 1955, 1956
  • Mixed Doubles runner-up: 1951, 1955

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 8 (4 titles–4 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
Runner-up	1948	French Championships	Nelly Adamson Landry	2–6, 6–0, 0–6
Winner	1951	French Championships	Doris Hart	6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up	1951	Wimbledon	Doris Hart	1–6, 0–6
Runner-up	1951	U.S. Championships	Maureen Connolly	3–6, 6–1, 4–6
Runner-up	1952	French Championships	Doris Hart	4–6, 4–6
Winner	1956	Wimbledon	Angela Buxton	6–3, 6–1
Winner	1956	U.S. Championships	Althea Gibson	6–3, 6–4
Winner	1957	Australian Championships	Althea Gibson	6–3, 6–4

Grand Slam tournament timelines

Singles

Tournament	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946^1	1947^1	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	Career SR
Australian Championships	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	W	1 / 1
French Championships	R	R	R	R	A	A	A	F	A	QF	W	F	SF	A	A	A	A	1 / 5
Wimbledon	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	A	QF	4R	QF	F	SF	SF	QF	A	W	A	1 / 8
U.S. Championships	1R	QF	1R	QF	1R	1R	3R	3R	3R	QF	F	SF	SF	SF	QF	W	A	1 / 16
SR	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 3	1 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 1	2 / 2	1 / 1	4 / 30

NH = tournament not held.
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
¹In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.

Women's doubles

Tournament	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946^1	1947^1	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	Career SR
Australian Championships	A	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	W	1 / 1
French Championships	R	R	R	R	A	A	A	F	A	W	W	W	W	A	A	A	A	4 / 5
Wimbledon	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	A	3R	SF	F	W	W	W	F	A	SF	A	3 / 8
U.S. Championships	A	1R	1R	QF	SF	SF	SF	SF	F	F	W	W	W	W	F	F	A	4 / 15
SR	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 2	1 / 3	3 / 3	3 / 3	3 / 3	1 / 2	0 / 1	0 / 2	1 / 1	12 / 29

NH = tournament not held.
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam doubles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
¹In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.

See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

References

1. Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 702–3. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
2. United States Tennis Association (1988). 1988 Official USTA Tennis Yearbook. Lynn, Massachusetts: H.O. Zimman, Inc. p. 261.

External links

• Shirley Fry Irvin at the International Tennis Hall of Fame