Full name Dorothy Bundy Cheney Name Dorothy Cheney Australian Open W (1938) | Country (sports) United States | |
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Born September 1, 1916
Los Angeles, California ( 1916-09-01 ) Died November 23, 2014(2014-11-23) (aged 98)
Escondido, California Highest ranking No. 6 (1946, John Olliff) | ||
Int. Tennis HoF 2004 (member page) | ||
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Dorothy "Dodo" May Sutton Bundy Cheney (September 1, 1916 – November 23, 2014) was an American tennis player from her youth into her 90s. She played most of her tennis at the Los Angeles Tennis Club. In 1938, Cheney became the first American to win the women's singles title at the Australian Championships, defeating Dorothy Stevenson in the final.
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Personal life
Cheney was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Tennis Hall of Famer May Sutton Bundy (1886–1975) and U.S. doubles champion Tom Bundy (1881–1945). She was the grandmother of former Major League Baseball player Danny Putnam. Cheney died on November 23, 2014 in Escondido, California at the age of 98.
Tennis career
Cheney was a three-time runner-up in Grand Slam women's doubles tournaments. At the 1938 Australian Championships, Cheney and her partner Dorothy Workman lost to Nancye Wynne Bolton and Thelma Coyne Long 9–7, 6–4. At the 1940 U.S. Championships, Cheney and her partner Marjorie Gladman Van Ryn lost to Alice Marble and Sarah Palfrey Cooke 6–3, 9–7, which was the latter team's fifth consecutive title at the U.S. Championships. At the 1941 U.S. Championships, Cheney and her partner Pauline Betz Addie lost to the team of Cooke and Margaret Osborne duPont 3–6, 6–1, 6–4. In 1942, Cheney played a number of exhibition doubles matches in Denver, Colorado, with young Army Air Corps Cadet Joseph Lang, a classmate from Santa Monica, California.
Cheney was a four-time runner-up in Grand Slam mixed doubles tournaments. At the 1940 U.S. Championships, Cheney and her partner Jack Kramer lost to Marble and Bobby Riggs 9–7, 6–1. At the 1944 U.S. Championships, Cheney and her partner Donald McNeill lost to duPont and William Talbert 6–2, 6–3. At the 1946 French Championships, Cheney and her partner Thomas Brown lost to Betz Addie and Budge Patty 7–5, 9–7. At Wimbledon in 1946, Cheney and her partner Geoff Brown lost to Louise Brough Clapp and Thomas Brown 6–4, 6–4.
Cheney was a member of the victorious U.S. Wightman Cup teams from 1937 through 1939.
Cheney won the Cincinnati singles title in 1944, defeating Betz Addie in the final. Cheney also won the Cincinnati doubles title that year. In 1945, Cheney was a singles runner-up and doubles winner in Cincinnati.
Cheney was still competing in selected top level events at the age of 51. In 1967, she upset a seeded player, Karen Krantzcke, in the third round of the Pacific Southwest Championships 6–2, 6–2. By the end of senior playing career, Cheney has amassed the record number of United States Tennis Association titles — 394.
According to A. Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Cheney was ranked in the world top ten in 1937 and 1946 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of World No. 6 in those rankings in 1946. Cheney was included in the year-end top ten rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association from 1936 through 1941, 1943 through 1946, and in 1955. She was the third-ranked U.S. player in 1937, 1938 and 1941.
Cheney was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004.
Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.
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.