Joan Ridley



Joan Cowell O'Meara Ridley (11 July 1903 – 4 October 1983) was a female British tennis player who was active in the 1920s and 1930s. Ridley was a semifinalist at the 1931 Wimbledon Championships where she lost in straight sets to Helen Jacobs. In 1932 she also reached the semifinal at the U.S. Championships which she lost in three sets to Carolin Babcock.

Her best Grand Slam result was reaching the final of the mixed doubles event at the 1929 Wimbledon Championships with compatriot Ian Collins. They lost the final in three sets to the American pairing Anna Harper and George Lott.

Ridley won the Scottish Championships in 1928 and successfully defended her title in 1929.

In 1930 she won the singles title at the British Covered Court Championships, played at the Queen's Club in London, after defeating Joan Fry in the final in straight sets. The previous year, 1929, she was runner-up at the same event to Peggy Saunders Michell. With Stanley Doust she won the mixed doubles covered court title in 1926.

In October 1932 and 1933 she won the tennis tournament in White Sulphur Springs.

Her forehand drive was her favourite stroke.

In October 1935 she married Daniel Joseph Patrick O'Meara, a gyneacologist, at the West Suffolk Hospital.