Darelene Hard was a tennis champion in the 1950’s-1960’s amateur era. In her time, professionals were not allowed to compete in the Australian, French, Wimbledon, and U.S. until 1968. Darlene’s game consisted of a strong serve and volley. Her forte was doubles which she won numerous Grand Slam titles with players like Althea Gibson, Maria Bueno, Jeanne Arth, and Lesley Turner. In addition, she was a mixed double champion with such players as Rod Laver and Mervyn Rose. Finally, she won three Grand Slam titles in singles despite her main expertise in doubles.
Darlene was born in Los Angeles, California. Her mom Ruth was a well-known amateur tennis player in that area. However, Darlene didn’t like the game because you had to wear white, couldn’t make noise, and couldn’t share. Therefore, she played team sports like baseball, basketball, and football. Her father coached her in softball. Friends and family had to manipulate her to play tennis. When she won the Southern California championship for 13 year olds, she committed herself to the game but didn’t beat her mom until she was fifteen.
Through her mom’s tennis reputation and her success, Darlene was taught by legendary players like Alice Marble, Pauline Betz, and Sarah Palfrey Cooke. Also, a famous Australian coach, Harry Hopman, allowed her to play and practice with Australian players like Laver, Roy Emerson, and Neal Fraser at the prestigious Los Angeles Tennis Club. In 1955 at the age of 19, she participated in the Pan American Games in Mexico but lost her father to a heart-attack at the same time. Later that year, she won the French in mixed doubles with Gordon Forbes and women’s doubles with Beverly Baker Fleitz (Anna Kournikova of her time but better). She entered Pomona College in 1957 and won the first National Women’s intercollegiate title in singles. She is the only woman to win a grand slam title and a collegiate title.
Her first moment of impact came in the 1957 Wimbledon final against Althea Gibson. She lost the match 6-3, 6-2 in 49 minutes but her congratulatory kiss to Miss Gibson, an African-American, forced a newspaper in South Africa to shade the photo off Darlene. Her second impact was her rivalry with Margaret Smith from Australia. During the 1962 season (in which Smith won 3 out of the 4 grand-slams), both players were bickering at each other and a rivalry ensued which climaxed at the 1962 U.S. Championships. After winning two straight U.S. Nationals, she lost to Margaret 9-7, 6-4 and cried on an over-rule call in the second set. Her final and biggest impact came at the 1961 French, her doubles partner, Brazilian Maria Bueno, suffered hepatitis and couldn’t play Wimbledon. Her country’s federation could not afford her medical expenses or bring her back to Brazil because her hepatitis could spread to others. Darlene canceled her trip to Wimbledon to take care an ailing, quarantined Maria at a Paris hotel for nearly a month.
In 1963, she won the US Hard Court championship in singles and doubles. The same year, she led the U.S. team over Australia (with Margaret Smith on the team) in the Fed Cup Tournament. Likewise, she won the doubles in the Pan American Games from that year. She retired from the game in 1964 to become an instructor at a country club. After 5 years away from the game, she was a last minute replacement in the U.S. Open doubles with Francoise Durr. Despite her lack of fitness throughout the tournament, Darlene and Francoise got to the finals and but were down 0-6, 0-2 to the duo of Virginia Wade and Margaret Smith Court. In the past, Darlene was known to give up on matches when things weren’t going her way particularly in singles. This time, Darlene was laughing and joking at her circumstance saying “isn’t this fun.” Francoise was not laughing though but they came back to win 0-6, 6-3, 6-4. This was Darlene’s last Grand Slam title. She soon retired from tennis in 1971. In honor of her career and her achievements, Darlene was elected to the tennis Hall of Fame in 1973 and elected to the collegiate Hall of Fame in 1974. Afterwards, she disappeared from public view and is now working at the University of Southern California.
I really believe that Darlene’s sacrifice of her ambition and health for Maria displays an unlimited compassion and care in the heat of competition. Tennis is a game of individualism and sometimes cruel fate favors a player’s outcome. For instance in 1956, Darlene’s ex-doubles partner Beverly Baker Fleitz was favored to win Wimbledon in singles but had to withdraw when she was confirmed pregnant. Fast forward to five years later, Darlene could have taken advantage of Maria’s situation by playing and winning Wimbledon. Yet, Darlene nursed Maria back to health and in the process, caught hepatitis. Eventually, Maria came back and won Wimbledon in 1964 and many U.S. singles titles afterwards. As for Darlene, she won her last singles title at the 1961 U.S. Nationals, never to win a singles title at Wimbledon. However, it is her sacrifice that will stay true to heart.
© 2006 by Davan Mani as unpublished work
No comments:
Post a Comment