Jenny Staley Hoad (born 3 March 1934) is an Australian former tennis player who was mainly active in the 1950s.

Career

In 1953 she won the junior singles title at the

Australian Championships The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

. As Jenny Staley she reached the singles final of

1954 Australian Championships The 1954 Australian Championships was a tennis tournament that took place on outdoor grass courts at the White City Tennis Club, Sydney, Australia from 22 January to 1 February. It was the 42nd edition of the Australian Championships (now known a ...

, played in Sydney, but lost in straight sets to Thelma Coyne Long. In November 1954 she reached the final of the New South Wales Championships which she lost in three sets to

Beryl Penrose Beryl Penrose (22 December 1930 – 20 June 2021) was an Australian international tennis player. She competed in the Australian Open eight times, from 1950 to 1957. Penrose won the singles title in 1955 defeating compatriot Thelma Coyne Long ...

. In December 1954 she was runner-up to Coyne Long at the Victorian Championships played in Kooyong. Staley won the singles title at the South Australian Championships at Adelaide in January 1955 defeating

Fay Muller Fay Muller (born 4 November 1933) is a former international tennis player from Australia. She competed in the Australian Championships nine times, from 1952 to 1963. At the 1956 Wimbledon Championships she partnered with Daphne Seeney to reach ...

in the final in straight sets. At the

1955 Australian Championships The 1955 Australian Championships was a tennis tournament that took place on outdoor Grass courts at the Memorial Drive, Adelaide, Australia from 21 January to 31 January. It was the 43rd edition of the Australian Championships (now known as th ...

she partnered her then boyfriend Lew Hoad in the mixed event and were runners-up to Thelma Coyne Long and George Worthington. Her best singles performance at the Wimbledon Championships was reaching the fourth round in 1955, losing to eight-seeded

Angela Buxton Angela Buxton (16 August 193414 August 2020) was a British tennis player. She won the women's doubles title at both the French Championships and Wimbledon in 1956 with her playing partner Althea Gibson. Early life Buxton was born in Liverpool o ...

, and 1956 when she was defeated by fifth-seeded and eventual champion Shirley Fry.

Personal life

Lew Hoad proposed to Staley on her 21st birthday party in March 1955, and they planned to announce their engagement in June in London while both were on an overseas tour. After arriving in London Staley discovered that she was pregnant, and the couple decided to get married straight away. The marriage took place the following day on 18 June 1955 at St Mary's Church, Wimbledon in London on the eve of Wimbledon. They had two daughters and a son. After Hoad's retirement they moved to Fuengirola, Spain, near Málaga, where they constructed and operated the tennis resort Lew Hoad's Campo de Tenis for more than 30 years, entertaining personal friends actors that included

Stewart Granger Stewart Granger (born James Lablache Stewart; 6 May 1913 – 16 August 1993) was a British film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s, rising to fame thr ...

Sean Connery Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...

, Richard Burton,

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...

Deborah Kerr Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress. During her international film career, Kerr won a G ...

and her husband Peter Viertel,

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...

, singer

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and saxophonist

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...

. Lew Hoad was diagnosed with a rare and incurable form of leukemia on 13 January 1994, which caused his death on 3 July 1994, at the age of 59. Jenny Hoad sold the club in April 1999 but has continued to live at the accompanying residential complex. In 2002, she published ''My Life with Lew'' with Jack Pollard.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: (1 runner-up)

Mixed doubles: (2 runner-ups)

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Singles

References

;Sources *

External links

*
Lew Hoad Tennis and Paddle Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Staley Hoad, Jenny 1934 births Living people Australian female tennis players Tennis players from Melbourne Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles Australian Championships (tennis) junior champions Sportswomen from Victoria (state)