Full name | Daphne Jessie Akhurst Cozens |
---|---|
Country (sports) | Australia |
Born | Ashfield, NSW, Australia | 22 April 1903
Died | 9 January 1933 Sydney, Australia | (aged 29)
Plays | Right-handed |
Int. Tennis HoF | 2013 (member page) |
Singles | |
Highest ranking | No. 3 (1928, A. Wallis Myers) |
Grand Slam singles results | |
Australian Open | W (1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1930) |
French Open | QF (1928) |
Wimbledon | SF (1928) |
Doubles | |
Grand Slam doubles results | |
Australian Open | W (1924, 1925, 1928, 1929, 1931) |
French Open | QF (1928) |
Wimbledon | SF (1928) |
Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
Australian Open | W (1924, 1925, 1928, 1929) |
French Open | QF (1928) |
Wimbledon | F (1928) |
Daphne Jessie Akhurst (22 April 1903 – 9 January 1933), known also by her married name Daphne Cozens, was an Australian tennis player.
Akhurst won the women's singles title at the Australian Championships five times between 1925 and 1930. According to Wallis Myers (The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail), she was ranked World No. 3 in 1928.[1]
Career
The second daughter of Oscar James Akhurst, a lithographer, and his wife Jessie Florence (née Smith), Daphne Akhurst won the women's singles title at the Australian Championships five times, in 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, and 1930. She is fourth on the list of most women's singles titles at the Australian Championships; behind only Margaret Court with eleven titles, Serena Williams with seven and Nancye Wynne Bolton with six titles. She won the women's doubles title at the Australian Championships five times: in 1924 and 1925 with Sylvia Lance Harper, in 1928 with Esna Boyd Robertson, and in 1929 and 1931 with Louie Bickerton. She and Marjorie Cox were the runners-up in 1926. [citation needed]
In 1925 she was part of the first Australian women's team to tour Europe and reached the quarterfinal of the singles event at Wimbledon which she lost to Joan Fry.[2] During her second and last European tour in 1928, she reached the singles quarterfinal at the French Championships, in which Cristobel Hardie defeated her, and the semifinal at Wimbledon, which she lost in straight sets to Lili de Alvarez.
Akhurst won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Championships four times: in 1924 and 1925 with Jim Willard, in 1928 with Jean Borotra, and in 1929 with Gar Moon. She and Willard were the runners-up in 1926. She and her partner Jack Crawford reached the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon in 1928, but lost to the team of Elizabeth Ryan/Patrick Spence, 7–5, 6–4.
Akhurst won the singles title at the German Championships in 1928 after a three-sets victory in the final against defending champion Cilly Aussem.[3]
Personal life
Akhurst attended the Miss. E. Tildesley's Normanhurst School, followed by the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.[4] On 26 February 1930 at St Philip's Church of England, Sydney, Daphne Akhurst married Royston Stuckey Cozens, a tobacco manufacturer, and retired from serious competition soon after winning the Australian ladies' doubles championship in 1931. They had one son, Don.
Daphne Akhurst Cozens died on 9 January 1933, aged 29, from an ectopic pregnancy.[2]
Legacy
Since 1934 the trophy presented each year to the winner of the women's singles at the Australian Open is named the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in her honour.[4] She was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame on Australia Day (26 January), 2006.[5] She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.
Grand Slam finals
Singles: 5 titles
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1925 | Australasian Championships[6] | Grass | Esna Boyd | 1–6, 8–6, 6–4 |
Win | 1926 | Australasian Championships[6] | Grass | Esna Boyd | 6–1, 6–3 |
Win | 1928 | Australian Championships[6] | Grass | Esna Boyd | 7–5, 6–2 |
Win | 1929 | Australian Championships[6] | Grass | Louie Bickerton | 6–1, 5–7, 6–2 |
Win | 1930 | Australian Championships[6] | Grass | Sylvia Lance Harper | 10–8, 2–6, 7–5 |
Doubles: 6 (5 titles, 1 runner-up)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1924 | Australasian Championships[7] | Grass | Sylvia Lance | Kathleen Le Messurier Meryl O'Hara Wood |
7–5, 6–2 |
Win | 1925 | Australasian Championships[8] | Grass | Sylvia Lance Harper | Esna Boyd Kathleen Le Messurier |
6–4, 6–3 |
Loss | 1926 | Australasian Championships[9] | Grass | Marjorie Cox | Esna Boyd Meryl O'Hara Wood |
3–6, 8–6, 6–8 |
Win | 1928 | Australian Championships[9] | Grass | Esna Boyd | Kathleen Le Messurier Dorothy Weston |
6–3, 6–1 |
Win | 1929 | Australian Championships[9] | Grass | Louie Bickerton | Sylvia Lance Harper Meryl O'Hara Wood |
6–2, 3–6, 6–2 |
Win | 1931 | Australian Championships[10] | Grass | Louie Bickerton | Nell Lloyd Lorna Utz |
6–0, 6–4 |
Mixed Doubles: 6 (4 titles, 2 runners-up)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1924 | Australasian Championships[11] | Grass | James Willard | Esna Boyd Garton Hone |
6–3, 6–4 |
Win | 1925 | Australasian Championships[12] | Grass | James Willard | Sylvia Lance Harper Richard Schlesinger |
6–4, 6–4 |
Loss | 1926 | Australasian Championships[11] | Grass | James Willard | Esna Boyd John Hawkes |
1–6, 4–6 |
Win | 1928 | Australian Championships[11] | Grass | Jean Borotra | Esna Boyd John Hawkes |
walkover |
Loss | 1928 | Wimbledon[13] | Grass | Jack Crawford | Elizabeth Ryan Patrick Spence |
5–7, 4–6 |
Win | 1929 | Australian Championships[11] | Grass | Edgar Moon | Marjorie Cox Jack Crawford |
6–0, 7–5 |
Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
Tournament | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929 | 1930 | SR | W–L | Win % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Championships | SF | W | W | 2R | W | W | W | 5 / 7 | 23–1 | 95.8 |
French Championships1 | NH | A | A | A | QF | A | A | 0 / 1 | 2–1 | 66.7 |
Wimbledon | A | QF | A | A | SF | A | A | 0 / 2 | 7–2 | 77.8 |
US Championships | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | – | – |
Win–loss | 2–1 | 7–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 10–2 | 4–0 | 4–0 | 5 / 10 | 32–4 | 88.9 |
1The French Championships were not held in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris that year.
See also
References
- ^ Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 701. ISBN 978-0-942257-41-0.
- ^ a b "Mrs. Roy Cozens". The Mercury. Hobart, Tas. 11 January 1933. p. 9 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Remarkable Performance". The Daily News. Vol. XLVII, no. 16, 625. Western Australia. 13 August 1928. p. 1 (Home (final) edition) – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b Grasso, John (2011). Historical Dictionary of Tennis. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0810872370.
- ^ "Player Profiles – Daphne Akhurst". Tennis Australia. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ a b c d e "Australian Open Results Archive / Women's Singles". Australian Open. Tennis Australia. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- ^ "Australian Open Results Archive / 1924 Women's Doubles". Australian Open. Tennis Australia. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- ^ "Australian Open Results Archive / 1925 Women's Doubles". Australian Open. Tennis Australia. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- ^ a b c "Australian Open Results Archive / Women's Doubles". Australian Open. Tennis Australia. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- ^ "Australian Open Results Archive / 1931 Women's Doubles". Australian Open. Tennis Australia. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- ^ a b c d "Australian Open Results Archive / Mixed Doubles". Australian Open. Tennis Australia. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
- ^ "Australian Open Results Archive / 1925 Mixed Doubles". Australian Open. Tennis Australia. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- ^ "Wimbledon Rolls of Honour / Mixed Doubles". Wimbledon. AELTC. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
Further reading
- Regan, Kerry (1979). "Akhurst, Daphne Jessie (1903–1933)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 7. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943.
External links
- 1903 births
- 1933 deaths
- Australasian Championships (tennis) champions
- Australian Championships (tennis) champions
- Australian female tennis players
- Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
- Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles
- Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
- People from the Inner West (Sydney)
- Sportswomen from New South Wales
- Tennis players from Sydney
- International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees
- Deaths in childbirth
- 20th-century Australian sportswomen