María Luisa Terán de Weiss (29 January 1918 – 8 December 1984), known in Argentina as Mary Terán de Weiss, and out of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

as María Teran Weiss, was a

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, the first Argentine woman to have a relevant sport performance in the international tennis tour.

Tennis career

She played between 1938 and 1959, and was considered a top 20 player, winning the Irish Open (1950), Israel International (1950), Cologne International (1951), Baden-Baden (1951) and Welsh International (1954), and several times the River Plate Championships. In 1948, she reached quarterfinals at the French Open and won the

All England Plate The All England Plate, also referred to as the Wimbledon Plate, was a tennis competition held at the Wimbledon Championships which consisted of players who were defeated in the first or second rounds of the Tennis singles, singles competition. The ...

, a tennis competition held at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

that consisted of players who were defeated in the first or second rounds of the singles competition. She also won two gold and bronze medals at the

1951 Pan American Games The 1951 Pan American Games, officially known as I Pan American Games () and commonly known as Buenos Aires 1951, were held in Buenos Aires, Argentina between February 25 and March 9, 1951. The Pan American Games' origins were at the Games of the ...

.Lupo, Víctor F. (2004). ''Historia política del deporte argentino'', Buenos Aires: Corregidor, capítulo XXXIV.

Political persecution in Argentina

Mary Terán was persecuted by the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

, which came to power in 1955, because of her sympathy and identification with the Peronist Movement, forcing her into exile in Spain and Uruguay and to retire from tennis at the end of the 1950s, and excluding her from all recognition by the press and sport organizations. Until the 1980s, Argentina's tennis was a sport for the upper classes. Mary Terán confronted the leaders of the Argentine Tennis Association, with the goal of promoting tennis among common people. In the early 1980s, she organized a campaign to support

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was the world No. 1 of the Grand Prix tennis circuit, Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977. He won 62 singles titles and 16 doubles titles during ...

and help to spread tennis in the country when the Argentine Tennis Association was campaigning against Vilas.

Death and legacy

After the return of democracy to Argentina at the end of 1983, she continued to be ignored by the media and the government. A few months later, she committed suicide by jumping from the seventh floor of a building in the city of Mar del Plata at the age of 66. In 2007, the City of Buenos Aires honoured her by naming the new tennis stadium of the city Estadio Mary Terán de Weiss.Ley 2502
, Boletín Oficial de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 06-12-2007

Personal life

She was married to fellow tennis player

Heraldo Weiss Heraldo Weiss (31 August 1917 – 30 August 1952) was an Argentine tennis player. Biography Weiss was born in Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires, Argentina on 31 August 1917. He won a silver medal at the Pan American Games. He was one of Argentina's ...

. He died in 1952.

Sources

References

Books

*Lupo, Víctor F. (2004). ''Historia política del deporte argentino'', Buenos Aires: Corregidor, capítulo XXXIV

External links

*Búsico, Jorge (09–12–2004)
''Mary Terán de Weiss, la mujer y la memoria''
Clarín. (In Spanish) *Rodríguez, Tomás (08–12–2008)

El Litoral.(In Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Teran De Weiss, Mary 1918 births 1984 suicides Tennis players from Rosario, Santa Fe Argentine female tennis players Pan American Games gold medalists in tennis Pan American Games bronze medalists in tennis Suicides by jumping in Argentina Argentine exiles Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina Tennis players at the 1951 Pan American Games Tennis players at the 1955 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1951 Pan American Games 1984 deaths