Barbara Scofield (June 24, 1926 – January 31, 2023) was an American tennis player who was active from the late 1940s until the early 1960s.

Tennis career

Scofield learned playing tennis at age 11 by taking lesson at the

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...

. With the Argentine

Enrique Morea Enrique Jorge Morea (11 April 1924 – 15 March 2017) was an Argentine tennis player. Morea reached the singles semifinals of the French Championships in 1953, beating Mervyn Rose and Gardnar Mulloy and then losing to Ken Rosewall. At th ...

, Scofield won the mixed doubles at the

French Championships The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam tennis events eve ...

in 1950, and the following year, she was a runner-up in the women's doubles event with Beryl Bartlett. Scofield's best singles result at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the semifinal of the 1950 French Championships where she lost to fourth-seeded

Patricia Todd Patricia Todd (born July 25, 1955) is an American politician from Alabama. A Democrat, she was elected in November 2006 as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives representing District 54 in downtown Birmingham. She is the current Firs ...

. In the quarterfinal Scofield had caused an upset by defeating the defending champion and world No. 1 Margaret duPont in three sets. As an unseeded player Scofield reached the singles quarterfinals of the 1949 U.S. National Championships and the 1950 Wimbledon Championships, in both cases losing to third-seeded

Doris Hart Doris Hart (June 20, 1925 – May 29, 2015) was an American tennis player 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 sing ...

. In the Wimbledon doubles event, she reached the semifinals in 1948 and 1951, partnering

Helen Rihbany Helen Antoinette Pedersen (July 16, 1916 – July 5, 1998) was an American amateur tennis player. She competed as Helen Rihbany in the 1940s from her marriage to Edward H. Rihbany, and she later married William McLaughlin. Pedersen, raised in S ...

and Betty Rosenquest respectively. In May 1950 Scofield won the singles title at the Wiesbaden International after a successful comeback in the final against

Gussie Moran Gertrude Augusta "Gussie" (or "Gussy") Moran (September 8, 1923 – January 16, 2013) was an American tennis player who was active in the late 1940s and 1950s. Her highest US national tennis ranking was 4th. She was born in Santa Monica, Califor ...

. In July that year she beat

Georgie Woodgate Georgiana Elizabeth Cox (nee Woodgate; 6 July 1923 — 12 May 2001) was a British tennis player active from the 1940s to 1960s. Her younger sister Billie was also a tennis player. Woodgate claimed the singles title at the Welsh Championships in ...

to win the singles title of the

Welsh Championships The Welsh Championships ( Welsh: Pencampwriaethau Cymru) its original name until 1970 was also known as the Championship of Wales (1951), the Welsh Open ( Welsh: Cymraeg Agored) (1947–50) the Green Shield Welsh Championships and Green Shield W ...

. In 1953 Scofield won the singles title at the

Swiss International Championships The Swiss International Championships or simply the Swiss Championships was a combined men's and women's clay court tennis tournament established by the Swiss Lawn Tennis Association, and first played at Grasshopper Club, Zurich, Switzerland in 189 ...

after a three-sets win in the final against Maria de Riba. She won the singles title at the 1955 Eastern Grass Court Championships in South Orange, New Jersey, defeating Barbara Breit in the final. Scofield was inducted into ITA Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004. She was inducted into the

United States 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 tenn ...

Hall of Fame in 2013.

Personal life

Scofield married Gordon Davidson, a Yale graduate from Milwaukee, in April 1951 in

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

. Scofield died on January 31, 2023, at the age of 96.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: (1 runner-up)

Mixed doubles: (1 title)

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

References

External links

*
Wimbledon player record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scofield, Barbara 1926 births 2023 deaths American female tennis players French Championships (tennis) champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Tennis players from San Francisco 21st-century American women 20th-century American sportswomen