Shirley Brasher (née Bloomer; born 13 June 1934) is a former

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 ...

player from England who won three Grand Slam titles during her career and who was the top-ranked singles player in her country in 1957.

Early life

She attended Cleethorpes Girls' Grammar School (became Lindsey School in 1973) in

Cleethorpes Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, England with a population of 38,372 in 2020. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry, then develo ...

Career

Brasher (then known as Shirley Bloomer) won the singles title at the 1957

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 ...

, defeating

Dorothy Head Knode Alice Dorothy Head Knode (née Head; July 4, 1925 – October 25, 2015), also known as Dottie Head Knode, was an American tennis player who reached the women's singles final of the French International Championships in 1955, losing to Angela Mor ...

in the final in straight sets. She was the runner-up in singles at the 1958 French Championships, losing to Zsuzsi Körmöczy 6–4, 1–6, 6–2, having defeated Maria Bueno in the semifinals.British Lawn Tennis July 1958 Bloomer teamed with

Darlene Hard Darlene Ruth Hard (January 6, 1936 – December 2, 2021) was an American professional tennis player, known for her aggressive volleying ability and strong serves. She captured singles titles at the French Championships in 1960 and the U.S. Champ ...

to win the women's doubles title at the 1957 French Championships, defeating Yola Ramírez and Rosie Reyes in the final 7–5, 4–6, 7–5. She teamed with

Nicola Pietrangeli Nicola "Nicky" Pietrangeli (; born 11 September 1933) is a former Italian tennis player. He won two singles titles at the French Championships and is considered by many to be Italy's greatest tennis champion. Biography Born 11 September 1933, in ...

to win the mixed doubles title at the 1958 French Championships, defeating

Lorraine Coghlan Lorraine Coghlan Robinson (née Coghlan; born 23 September 1937) is a former tennis player from the state of Victoria in Australia. In 1956, she won the Australian Championships Girls' Singles title. Coghlan teamed with Bob Howe to win the mix ...

and

Robert Howe Robert Howe may refer to: * Robert Howe (footballer) (1903–1979), Scottish international football (soccer) player * Robert Howe (Continental Army officer) (1732–1786), Major-General in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War ...

in the final. Bloomer partnered

Patricia Ward Patricia Ward Hales (née Ward; 27 February 1929 – 22 June 1985) was a tennis player from the United Kingdom who reached the singles final of the 1955 U.S. Championships, losing to Doris Hart. Hales partnered Shirley Bloomer to reach the wome ...

to reach the 1955 women's doubles finals at Wimbledon, where they lost to Angela Mortimer and

Anne Shilcock Jacqueline Anne Shilcock (later Spann, 13 June 1932 – April 2019) was a British tennis player who was active in the 1950s. She won 1955 Wimbledon Championships in women's doubles with Angela Mortimer, becoming the first all-British team to w ...

7–5, 6–1, and at the French Championships, where they lost to Hard and Beverly Baker Fleitz 7–5, 6–8, 13–11. They previously had beaten Mortimer and Shilcock in the British Hard Courts final and defeated Hard and Fleitz in the Wimbledon semifinals. She reached the final of Monte Carlo in 1956, losing to

Althea Gibson Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American ...

and with

Pat Hird Patricia Ann Hird (born 11 November 1934) is a British former tennis player. Active in the 1950s and 1960s, Hird twice reached the singles fourth round at Wimbledon and was a two-time women's doubles quarter-finalist. In 1954 she was a member of ...

beat Gibson and Louise Snow in the doubles final. Having reached the final in 1956, beating Darlene Hard and losing in three sets to Angela Mortimer, she won the

British Hard Court Championships The British Hard Court Championships is a defunct Grand Prix tennis and WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1968 to 1983 and 1995 to 1999. The inaugural edition of the tournament was held in 1924 in Torquay, moving to the West Han ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

in 1957, beating Pat Ward, and in 1958, beating Christine Truman and

Ann Haydon Ann Shirley Jones, (née Adrianne Haydon on 17 October 1938, also known as Ann Haydon-Jones) is a British former table tennis and lawn tennis champion. She won eight Grand Slam tennis championships in her career: three in singles, three in wom ...

. She beat

Louise Brough Althea Louise Brough Clapp (née Brough; March 11, 1923 – February 3, 2014) was an American tennis player. In her career between 1939 and 1959, she won six Grand Slam singles titles as well as numerous doubles and mixed-doubles titles. At the ...

to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Championships in 1956 and was the only player to take a set from Althea Gibson at Wimbledon in 1958, losing in three sets in the quarterfinals. According to Lance Tingay's end of year rankings, she reached no. 7 in the world in 1956, no. 3 in 1957 and no. 5 in 1958. She won the Italian Championships in 1957, beating Dorothy Knode in a three-sets final. She lost her title the next year to Maria Bueno in the semifinals after having match points. Bloomer played on the British Wightman Cup team from 1955 through 1960, playing the no. 2 singles in 1955, the no. 3 in 1956 (beating Dorothy Knode), and the no. 1 in 1957 and 1958. The 1958 team that included Christine Truman and Brasher won the cup, which was the first time that Great Britain had won the competition since 1930. In 1960, she and Christine Truman won the final doubles match against

Janet Hopps Janet Hopps Adkisson (born August 4, 1934) is a former professional tennis player from the U.S. Adkisson was ranked in the top 15 female tennis players three times, and was, according to the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame, "once recognize ...

and Dorothy Knode to bring her team to another 4–3 victory over the U.S. Bloomer played a hard baseline game, and her tennis was concerted rather than spectacular. She was a member of the Grimsby Town Tennis Club, which was located in College Street,

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...

Personal life

In April 1959, she married Olympic champion athlete

Chris Brasher Christopher William Brasher CBE (21 August 1928 – 28 February 2003) was a British track and field athlete, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon. Early life and education Born in Georgetown, British Guiana, Brasher went t ...

who helped pace

Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres an ...

to running the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954. They had three children, including their daughter

Kate Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...

who played on the women's professional tennis tour in the 1980s.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Doubles (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Mixed Doubles (1 title)

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

References

Sources

*Martin Hedges, 1978. ''The Concise Dictionary of Tennis''. Mayflower Books Inc.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brasher, Shirley 1934 births Living people English female tennis players French Championships (tennis) champions Sportspeople from Grimsby Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles British female tennis players Tennis people from Lincolnshire