Simonne Mathieu


Simonne Mathieu was a female tennis player from France, born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine who was active in the 1930s. Her first name is spelled "Simone" in many sources.

Career

Mathieu is best remembered for winning the singles title at the French Championships in 1938 and 1939 and for reaching the final of that tournament an additional six times, in 1929, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, and 1937. In those finals, she lost three times to Hilde Krahwinkel, twice to Helen Wills Moody, and once to Margaret Scriven.
Mathieu won 11 Grand Slam doubles championships: three women's doubles titles at Wimbledon, six women's doubles titles at the French Championships, and two mixed-doubles titles at the French Championships. She completed the rare triple at the French Championships in 1938, winning the singles, women's doubles, and mixed-doubles titles.
Mathieu's 13 Grand Slam titles are second only to Suzanne Lenglen's 31 among French women.
According to A. Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail respectively, Mathieu was ranked in the world top 10 from 1929 through 1939, reaching a career high of world No. 3 in 1932.
The winners' trophy of the women's doubles event at the French Open is named in her honour as the Coupe Simonne-Mathieu.
During World War II, Captain Mathieu was founder of the Corps Féminin Français, the women's volunteer branch of the Free French Forces, similar to the British Auxiliary Territorial Service. Mathieu was succeeded in that position by Captain Hélène Terré. Officer of the Legion of Honor.
She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006.
In November 2017, the French Tennis Federation announced that the third show-court at Roland Garros will be named Court Simonne-Mathieu in her honor.

Grand Slam tournaments finals

Singles: 8 (2 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Doubles: 13 (9 titles, 4 runner-ups)

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

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament19251926192719281929193019311932193319341935193619371938193919401941 – 1944194519461Career SR
Australian OpenAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANHNHA0 / 0
French ChampionshipsQFQF3RAFQFQFFFSFFFFWWNHRAA2 / 14
WimbledonA1R2RA3RSFSFSFQFSFQFSFSFQFQFNHNHNH1R0 / 14
US ChampionshipsAAAAAAAAAAAAAQF1RAAAA0 / 2
SR0 / 10 / 20 / 20 / 00 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 21 / 31 / 30 / 00 / 00 / 00 / 12 / 30

R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
1In 1946, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.