Eleanor "Nell" Mary Hall Hopman, CBE (née Hall; 9 March 1909 – 10 January 1968) was one of the female

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 cov ...

players that dominated Australian tennis from 1930 through the early 1960s. She was the first wife of

Harry Hopman Henry Christian Hopman CBE (12 August 1906 – 27 December 1985) was an Australian tennis player and coach. Early life Harry Hopman was born on 12 August 1906 in Glebe, Sydney as the third child of John Henry Hopman, a schoolteacher, and Jen ...

, the coach and captain of 22 Australian

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organi ...

teams.

Early life

Hopman was born on 9 March 1909 at Coogee, Sydney and was the only daughter and second of three children of Charles Ernest Hall, clerk, and Mabel Gertrude, née Tipper. She was educated at Claremont College, Randwick and as a student she excelled at tennis and music. She obtaining her licentiate and teaching diploma at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including perform ...

, London, and received a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

in 1928 but instead elected to pursue a tennis career.

Career

Hopman teamed with her husband to win four mixed-doubles titles 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. ...

(1930, 1936, 1937, and 1939). They were mixed-doubles finalists at Wimbledon in 1935, losing to Fred Perry and

Dorothy Round Little Dorothy Edith Round (13 July 1909 – 12 November 1982), was a British tennis player who was active from the late 1920s until 1950. She achieved her major successes in the 1930s. She won the singles title at Wimbledon in 1934 and 1937, and the ...

in three sets. Hopman was a singles finalist at the Australian Championships in 1939 and 1947. She partnered with Maureen Connolly to win the women's doubles title at the 1954

French Championships The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

. She played in 58 Grand Slam singles events during her career, the last one a first-round loss at the 1966 French Championships when she was 57 years old. She played in 27 of the 28 singles events that were held at the Australian Championships from 1930 through 1962, including 25 consecutive events from 1933 through 1962. Her last Grand Slam event was the women's doubles tournament at the 1966 US Championships, where she and Mrs. Arklay Richards lost in the first round. Hopman was instrumental in Tennis Australia's decision to invite the reigning Wimbledon champion, Louise Brough Clapp, and

Doris Hart Doris Hart (June 20, 1925 – May 29, 2015) was an American tennis player from who was active in the 1940s and first half of the 1950s. She was ranked world No. 1 in 1951. She was the fourth player, and second woman, to win a Career Grand Slam in ...

to play tournaments in Australia in the summer of 1949–1950. She also arranged for Connolly and the American junior title holder

Julie Sampson Haywood Julia Ann Sampson Hayward (née Sampson; February 2, 1934 – December 27, 2011) was a female tennis player from the United States who was active in the 1950s. She won two Grand Slam titles in doubles. Tennis career As the second seeded foreign ...

to play in Australia in the summer of 1952–1953. The end result was Tennis Australia's decision to establish a committee to discuss ways and means of improving the "poor standards of Australian women's tennis". Other tennis writers supported Hopman's efforts, accusing Tennis Australia of a "parochial attitude to women players". In 1955, Tennis Australia finally sent a women's team abroad, under the management of Adrian Quist. In 1961, Hopman took another women's team abroad, consisting of Margaret Court, Lesley Turner Bowrey, and

Mary Carter Reitano Mary Carter Reitano (''née'' Carter; born 29 November 1934) is a former tennis player from Australia. As a junior player she won the girls' singles title at the Australian Championships in 1951 and 1952. Reitano won the singles title at the ...

. The tour was a financial success, but Hopman was accused of overworking and underfeeding her players and forcing them to stay in inadequate hotels. As a result, Court refused to participate in the 1962 overseas tour led by Hopman. Hopman was employed by the

United States Lawn Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

and the Southern California Tennis Association from 1952 through 1954 to be the travelling companion and chaperon of Connolly. In 1962, she persuaded the International Tennis Federation to begin sponsoring the Federation Cup, now known as the Fed Cup, an international team event for women similar to the

for men. She was awarded the CBE in July 1962. Hopman became the first life member of "Tennis Victoria" in 1965 but the following year underwent unsuccessful surgery for a brain tumor and died in January 1968.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

Mixed doubles: 6 (4 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

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

References

External links

Australian Dictionary of Biography entry about Hopman

National Portrait Gallery – Eleanor Mary ('Nell') Hopman (nee Hall)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopman, Nell Hall 1909 births 1968 deaths Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Australian Championships (tennis) champions Australian female tennis players French Championships (tennis) champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Sportswomen from New South Wales Tennis players from Sydney