Eleanor "Nell" Mary Hall Hopman,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(née Hall; 9 March 1909 – 10 January 1968) was one of the female

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 ...

players that dominated Australian tennis from 1930 through the early 1960s. She was the first wife of

Harry Hopman Henry Christian Hopman Order of the British Empire, CBE (12 August 1906 – 27 December 1985) was an Australian tennis player and coach. Early life Harry Hopman was born on 12 August 1906 in Glebe, New South Wales, Glebe, Sydney as the third c ...

, the coach and captain of 22 Australian

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

teams.

Early life

Hopman was born on 9 March 1909 at Coogee, Sydney and was the only daughter and second of three children of Charles Ernest Hall, clerk, and Mabel Gertrude, née Tipper. She was educated at Claremont College,

Randwick Randwick is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government ar ...

and as a student she excelled at tennis and music. She obtaining her licentiate and teaching diploma at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

, London, and received a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

in 1928 but instead elected to pursue a tennis career.

Career

Hopman teamed with her husband to win four mixed-doubles titles at 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 ...

(1930, 1936, 1937, and 1939). They were mixed-doubles finalists at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

in 1935, losing to

Fred Perry Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former World number 1 male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors, including eight Grand Slam (tennis), ...

and

Dorothy Round Little Dorothy Edith Round (13 July 1909 – 12 November 1982) was a British tennis player who was active from the late 1920s until 1950. She achieved her major successes in the 1930s. She won the singles title at Wimbledon in 1934 and 1937, and the s ...

in three sets. Hopman was a singles finalist at the Australian Championships in 1939 and 1947. She partnered with

Maureen Connolly Maureen Catherine Connolly-Brinker (née Connolly; September 17, 1934 – June 21, 1969), known as "Little Mo", was an American tennis player, the winner of nine major singles titles in the early 1950s. In 1953, she became the first woman to win ...

to win the women's doubles title at the 1954

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 ...

. She played in 58

Grand Slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

singles events during her career, the last one a first-round loss at the 1966 French Championships when she was 57 years old. She played in 27 of the 28 singles events that were held at the Australian Championships from 1930 through 1962, including 25 consecutive events from 1933 through 1962. Her last Grand Slam event was the women's doubles tournament at the 1966 US Championships, where she and Mrs. Arklay Richards lost in the first round. Hopman was instrumental in

Tennis Australia Tennis Australia Limited is the governing body for tennis in Australia. It is owned by Australian states and territories. The association organizes national and international tennis tournaments including the Australian Open, Australian Open Se ...

's decision to invite the reigning

champion, Louise Brough Clapp, and

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 ...

to play tournaments in Australia in the summer of 1949–1950. She also arranged for Connolly and the American junior title holder

Julie Sampson Haywood Julia Ann Sampson Hayward (née Sampson; February 2, 1934 – December 27, 2011) was a female tennis player from the United States who was active in the 1950s. She won two Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles in doubles. Tennis career As the ...

to play in Australia in the summer of 1952–1953. The result was Tennis Australia's decision to establish a committee to discuss ways and means of improving the "poor standards of Australian women's tennis". Other tennis writers supported Hopman's efforts, accusing Tennis Australia of a "parochial attitude to women players". In 1955, Tennis Australia finally sent a women's team abroad, under the management of

Adrian Quist Adrian Karl Quist (23 January 191317 November 1991) was an Australian tennis player. Biography Adrian Quist was born in Medindie, South Australia. His father was Karl Quist, who had been a noted interstate cricketer, and owned a sporting goo ...

. In 1961, Hopman took another women's team abroad, consisting of

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Mary Carter Reitano Mary Carter Reitano (''née'' Carter; born 29 November 1934) is a former tennis player from Australia. As a junior player she won the girls' singles title at the Australian Championships in 1951 and 1952. Reitano won the singles title at the ...

. The tour was a financial success, but Hopman was accused of overworking and underfeeding her players and forcing them to stay in inadequate hotels. As a result, Court refused to participate in the 1962 overseas tour led by Hopman. Hopman was employed 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 ...

and the Southern California Tennis Association from 1952 through 1954 to be the travelling companion and chaperon of Connolly. In 1962, she persuaded the

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. there are 211 nat ...

to begin sponsoring the Federation Cup, now known as 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 ...

, an international team event for women similar to the

for men. She was awarded the

in July 1962. Hopman became the first life member of "Tennis Victoria" in 1965 but the following year underwent unsuccessful surgery for a brain tumor and died in January 1968.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

Mixed doubles: 6 (4 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

. ¹In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.

References

External links

Australian Dictionary of Biography entry about Hopman

National Portrait Gallery – Eleanor Mary ('Nell') Hopman (nee Hall)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopman, Nell Hall 1909 births 1968 deaths Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Australian Championships (tennis) champions Australian female tennis players French Championships (tennis) champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Sportswomen from New South Wales Tennis players from Sydney 20th-century Australian sportswomen