Joan Marcia Bathurst (née Hartigan; 6 June 1912 – 31 August 2000) was an Australian Champion

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player.

Early life and education

Joan Marcia Hartigan was born in Sydney, the daughter of Thomas Joseph (Tom) Hartigan, a railways commissioner, and Imelda Josephine, née Boylson, a schoolteacher; the couple wed on 26 March 1908 at St Thomas's Catholic Church,

Lewisham, New South Wales Lewisham is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lewisham is located 7 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Inner West Council. The postcod ...

.R. M. Audley
Hartigan, Thomas Joseph (1877–1963) profile
''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Retrieved 28 August 2011.Hartigan, Joan Marcia
Commonwealth of Australia, WW2 Nominal Roll, 2002; Retrieved 28 August 2011. Tom Hartigan was a clerk in the New South Wales Government Railways and eventually became Railways Commissioner. Joan was educated at the all-girls'

Loreto Kirribilli Loreto Kirribilli is an independent Roman Catholic comprehensive single-sex primary and secondary day school for girls, located in Kirribilli, a Lower North Shore suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established at Milsons Poi ...

, in the lower north shore of Sydney.

Tennis career

Bathurst won the singles title at the Australian Championships three times and was a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 1934 (losing to Helen Jacobs) and 1935 (losing to

Helen Wills Moody Helen Newington Wills (October 6, 1905 – January 1, 1998), also known by her married names Helen Wills Moody and Helen Wills Roark, was an American tennis player. She won 31 Grand Slam tournament titles (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) d ...

). Bathurst three times reached the women's doubles final at the Australian Championships, in 1933, 1934, and 1940. Bathurst teamed with

Edgar Moon Edgar "Gar" Moon (3 December 1904 – 26 May 1976) was a tennis player from Australia who was best known for winning the 1930 Australian Championships – Men's singles title. He also won the 1932 Men's Doubles title with Jack Crawford. He wo ...

to win the mixed doubles title at the 1934 Australian Championships. According to A. Wallis Myers of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and the ''Daily Mail'', Bathurst was ranked in the world top 10 in 1934 and 1935, reaching a career high of world no. 8 in these rankings in 1934.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (3 titles)

Personal and family life

In January, 1943 she enlisted in the Australian Army; she was discharged on 1 September 1943. In 1946, she announced her engagement to Hugh Moxon Bathurst of Melbourne who was then private secretary to Senator James Fraser, Chifley's Health minister. They married at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney on Saturday, 12 April 1947, before flying to Adelaide then Perth to board the Orion at Fremantle for England where they planned to live for a few years while she resumed her tennis career at Wimbledon. In 1950, they returned on the Strathmore after living in Surrey for three years and settled in Sydney. Joan Bathurst died on 31 August 2000, and her husband died 16 April 2001.Death notices, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 18 April 2001. Their son, Thomas Frederick Bathurst became Chief Justice of New South Wales.

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

¹In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.

References

External links

Joan Hartigan
at The Australian Women's Register
Joan Hartigan Bathurst
at Mosman Hall of Sporting Fame * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartigan, Joan 1912 births 2000 deaths Australian Championships (tennis) champions Australian female tennis players Sportswomen from New South Wales Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles Tennis players from Sydney Australian Championships (tennis) junior champions 20th-century Australian women Australian Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from New South Wales