Carole Graebner (née Caldwell; June 24, 1943 – November 19, 2008) was an American

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. According to

Lance Tingay Lance Tingay (15 July 1915 – 10 March 1990) was a British sports journalist, historian, and author of several tennis books. For many years his annual ranking of top tennis players was "the only one that counted" before ATP rankings were introduc ...

of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and the ''Daily Mail'', Graebner was ranked in the world top 10 in 1964 and 1965, reaching a career high of World No. 4 in these rankings in 1964. Graebner was included in the year-end top 10 rankings issued 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 tenn ...

from 1961 through 1965 and in 1967. She was the third-ranked U.S. player in 1964 and 1965. She was ranked U.S. No. 1 in doubles in 1963.

Career summary

Graebner paired with

Nancy Richey Nancy Richey (born August 23, 1942) is an American former tennis player. Richey won two major singles titles (the 1967 Australian Championships and 1968 French Open) and four major women's doubles titles (the 1965 US Championships, 1966 Austra ...

to win doubles titles at the U.S. National Championships in 1965 (defeating

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943), also known as BJK, is an American former World number 1 ranked female tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in w ...

and

Karen Hantze Susman Karen Susman (née Hantze; born December 11, 1942, San Diego) is an American former tennis player. Susman won the women's singles title at The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon in 1962 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, 1962. She won ...

in the final) and the

Australian Championships The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events every year, held be ...

in 1966 (defeating

Margaret Court Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian former world number 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Her 24 women's singles major titles and total of 64 major titles (includi ...

and

Lesley Turner Bowrey Lesley Rosemary Turner Bowrey, AM (née Turner; born 16 August 1942) is a retired professional tennis player from Australia. Her career spanned two decades from the late 1950s until the late 1970s. Turner Bowrey won the singles title at the F ...

in the final). Graebner lost to

Maria Bueno Maria Esther Andion Bueno (11 October 1939 – 8 June 2018) was a Brazilian professional tennis player. During her 11-year career in the 1950s and 1960s, she won 19 Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major titles (seven in women's singles, 11 in w ...

in the singles final of the 1964 U.S. Championships. Graebner won the doubles title at the

U.S. Women's Clay Court Championships The U.S. Open Clay Courts, known formally as the U.S. Clay Court Championships, was a national tennis championship for women that was sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association. The first edition was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1912, ...

in 1964 and 1965. In the singles event, she was a runner-up in 1962 and 1964 to

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and

respectively. In 1961, at the tournament in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, Caldwell won the doubles title with Cathie Gagel and lost the singles final to

Peachy Kellmeyer Fern 'Peachy' Kellmeyer (born February 19, 1944, in West Virginia, United States) is a retired tennis player and current tennis administrator who helped change the face of women's tennis. Kellmeyer is an alumnus of Florida Atlantic University. A ...

. Caldwell won the

Pacific Southwest The Pacific Southwest () is a region of the United States. In its broadest definition, it encompasses five states: California, Arizona, Hawaii, Utah, and part of Nevada. The region is one of cultural diversity seen all over. Several major urban a ...

singles title in 1962 and 1965 and won a gold medal in doubles at the 1963

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

. Graebner was on the first U.S. Federation Cup team and attended California State University, Los Angeles. After her playing career ended, Graebner was a radio and television commentator and a vice president with ''Tennis Week'' magazine. She also served in sales and administration with Sports Investors, Inc. Graebner was the chair of the

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

Committee and vice chair of the

Wightman Cup The Wightman Cup was an annual team tennis competition for women contested from 1923 through 1989 (except during World War II) between teams from the United States and Great Britain. History U.S. player Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman wanted to generat ...

Committee.

Awards and honors

She was the recipient of the USTA Service Bowl Award in 1989 and the Sarah Palfrey Danzig Award in 1991. She was named Eastern Tennis Association Woman of the Year in 1989. In 1997, she was inducted into the ITA Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame.

Personal

Caldwell was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in Santa Monica, California. On July 11, 1964, she married American tennis star

Clark Graebner Clark Edward Graebner (born November 4, 1943) is an American former professional tennis player. He was four times a world top ten ranked player each year from 1966 to 1969, reaching world No. 3 in 1967 and world No. 7 the following year. He was ...

. They had two children, a daughter Cameron and a son Clark. The couple separated in 1975 but never divorced. Graebner died of cancer in New York City on November 19, 2008, aged 65.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Doubles: 2 (2 titles)

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Graebner, Carole 1943 births 2008 deaths American female tennis players Australian Championships (tennis) champions Deaths from cancer in New York (state) California State University, Los Angeles alumni United States National champions (tennis) Tennis players from Santa Monica, California Tennis players from Pittsburgh Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Tennis players at the 1963 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in tennis 20th-century American sportswomen