Barbara Knapp (29 March 1920 – 1978) was a British

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. She was also an England international in squash. Born and raised in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, Knapp attended

King Edward VI High School for Girls King Edward VI High School for Girls (KEHS) is an all-girls public school (United Kingdom), public school located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It was founded in 1883 and occupies the same site as, and is twinned with the King Edward's Scho ...

and was most active on the tour during the 1950s. She made the singles third round at Wimbledon twice and was a finalist at the 1950

Canadian Championships Canadian Championships refers to a number of national-level competition in Canada. It may refer to: * Canadian Championship, the national championship tournament for professional soccer * Canadian Figure Skating Championships * Canadian Professiona ...

. At the 1950 U.S. National Championships she played a historic first round match against Althea Gibson, who became the first black player to feature at the tournament. She lost to Gibson in straight sets. Knapp, a physical education at

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, died in 1978 of a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knapp, Barbara 1920 births 1978 deaths English female tennis players British female tennis players English female squash players Tennis players from the West Midlands (county) Tennis players from Birmingham, West Midlands People educated at King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham 20th-century English sportswomen