Betty Nuthall



Betty May Nuthall Shoemaker (23 May 1911 – 8 November 1983) was an English tennis player. Known for her powerful forehand, according to Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Shoemaker was ranked in the world top ten in 1927, 1929 through 1931, and 1933, reaching a career high in those rankings of World No. 4 in 1929.[1]



Contents
[hide]  *1 Career  ==Career[edit] == Nuthall was taught tennis by her father. She won the junior championships of Great Britain in 1924 (aged 13), 1925 and 1926.
 * 2 Grand Slam singles finals
 * 2.1 Win (1)
 * 2.2 Runner-ups (2)
 * 3 Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
 * 4 See also
 * 5 References
 * 6 External links

In 1927 at the age of 16, Shoemaker tied Elisabeth Moore as the then-youngest women's singles finalist ever at the U.S. Championships. Shoemaker lost the final to Helen Wills in straight sets while serving under-handed.[2] [3]

Also in 1927, Shoemaker played on the British Wightman Cup team and defeated Helen Jacobs in her debut. She also represented Great Britain in the 1929 and 1931–34 Wightman Cup competitions.

In 1930, Shoemaker became the first non-American since 1892 to win a women's singles title at the U.S. Championships, defeating Anna McCune Harper in straight sets.[4]  She was the last British female player to win the title until Virginia Wade won in 1968. In 1931 she reached the singles final of the French Championships but lost in two sets to first-seeded Cilly Aussem.

At the U.S. Championships in 1933, Shoemaker won a quarterfinal versus Alice Marble 6–8, 6–0, 7–5 after being down two breaks of serve at 1–5 in the final set. In the semifinal versus Moody, Shoemaker won the first set 6–2 in just 12 minutes, which was the first set Wills had lost at this tournament since 1926. Moody, however, turned around the match and won the last two sets 6–3, 6–2 despite losing her serve twice in the second set. Shoemaker never again reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament.

Shoemaker won women's doubles titles at the 1930, 1931, and 1933 U.S. Championships and at the 1931 French Championships. She won mixed doubles championships at the 1929 and 1931 U.S. Championships and at the 1931 and 1932 French Championships.

Shoemaker was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1977.[2] ==Grand Slam singles finals<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] == ===Win (1)<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === ===Runner-ups (2)<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === ==Grand Slam singles tournament timeline<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] == <p style="line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">NH = tournament not held.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">A = did not participate in the tournament.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><sup style="line-height:1em;">1 In 1946, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.