Alice Marble
Alice Marble
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Alice Marble

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Alice Marble

Alice Irene Marble (September 28, 1913 – December 13, 1990) was an American tennis player who won 18 Grand Slam championships between 1936 and 1940: five in singles, six in women's doubles, and seven in mixed doubles. She was ranked world No. 1 in 1939.

Born in the small town of Beckwourth, California, Marble moved with her family at the age of five to San Francisco. A tomboy, she played seven sports at San Francisco Polytechnic High School, including basketball and baseball, but her brother persuaded her to try tennis. She quickly mastered the game, playing in Golden Gate Park, and by age 15, won several California junior tournaments.

At the U.S. Championships, Marble won the singles title in 1936 and from 1938 to 1940, the women's doubles title with Sarah Palfrey Cooke from 1937 to 1940, and the mixed doubles title with Gene Mako in 1936, Don Budge in 1938, Harry Hopman in 1939, and Bobby Riggs in 1940.

At Wimbledon, Marble won the singles title in 1939; the women's doubles title with Cooke in 1938 and 1939 and the mixed doubles title with Budge in 1937 and 1938 as well as the mixed doubles title with Riggs in 1939.

In Wightman Cup team competition, Marble lost only one singles and one doubles match in the years she competed (1933, 1937–39).

According to A. Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Marble was ranked in the world top 10 from 1936 to 1939 (no rankings issued 1940–1945), reaching a career high in those rankings of world No. 1 in 1939. Marble was included in the year-end top ten rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association in 1932–33 and 1936–40. She was the top-ranked U.S. player from 1936 to 1940.

Marble was the Associated Press Athlete of the Year in 1939 and 1940.

After capping a stellar amateur career in 1940, Marble turned professional and earned more than $100,000, travelling around playing exhibition tournaments.

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