She played during the amateur era where professionalism was disallowed in major tennis tournaments. She won 19 Grand Slam titles (7 in singles, 11 doubles and 1 mixed doubles) and won many others in non GS tournaments. In all, she amassed 589 titles in her career. She was the first to win a Grand Slam in doubles in 1960 (Australian with Christine Truman and the others with Darlene Hard). She also won. Leading the way for Latin American athletes, she was the first woman from Latin America to win Wimbledon. Her prime years were from 1958 till 1968 before injuries curtailed her career.
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| Serving ballerina style with power! |
Sportswriters described her moving swiftly and gracefully like a swallow (a bird) that moves swiftly to hunt its prey. Her game was an expression of art and poetry. Her canvas: the tennis court. She had to play the game beautifully and gracefully. Winning mattered but thinking about winning would not allow her to play her fullest: stroke to stroke; point to point; and game to game. By combining the game as art and war, she appealed to fans who like the aesthetic and competitive aspects of tennis. A writer described her as an “ugly ducking who moves beautifully.”
Maria Esther Aldinion Bueno was born on Oct. 11, 1939 in Sao Paolo, Brazil. She learned to play on the clay courts of Sao Paolo where her father was a member of a country club. She never took lessons, instead became a disciple of tennis legend’s Bill Tilden’s book. She read his book very carefully and practiced with her older brother as well as club pros for hours, everyday. The clay surface gives the ball a higher bounce and less speed off shots. Therefore, players learn patience and point construction but Maria was a restless soul who wanted to finish off points quickly. By her own teachings, she developed an attacking style of serve & volley and power-hitting ground strokes from the forehand and the backhand. Likewise, she developed those half-volley touches where she can make contact on the ball at any angle or speed with any type of spin off the bounce. Finally, she was an avid swimmer which provided consistent strength to her eventual, lean body of 5’7 and 115 pounds. Nancy Richey, her former opponent, commented that she was the hardest consistent hitter that she ever faced because the ball felt so heavy compared to others including Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.
The results of her work were quickly put into effect. At age twelve, she won her first tournament; at fifteen, she was on the Brazilian National team; and at eighteen, a world class player. Her first grand slam title came at the 1958 Wimbledon doubles where she teamed up with Althea Gibson beat Margaret Osborne DuPont and Margaret Varner Bloss. That same year, they go the finals at the U.S. Nationals despite protests by the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association of wanting only Americans to play doubles with each other. At that time, Althea Gibson was the dominant singles player. She won back to back titles in both Wimbledon and U.S. in 1957 and 1958. Therefore, Althea threatened to boycott the U.S. Nationals if Maria was not her partner and the USLTA acquiesced. In singles, Maria showed glimpses of championship caliber by winning tournaments at the Italian and other smaller venues but struggled in the major tournaments and against better players like Althea in 1958.
Then in 1959, Maria broke through by beating Althea at the Italian, winning Wimbledon, and the U.S. Nationals over French champion, Christine Truman. She was ranked No. 1 in women’s tennis and voted Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year. The next year she repeated her success of winning Wimbledon but lost in the U.S. finals. Throughout her career, she never won the major that mattered to her the most, the singles title at the French. The fans appreciated her artistic approach to tennis and she grew up on the clay surface. While she grew up in clay, the grass surfaces at Wimbledon and at U.S. Nationals (then Forest Hills, NY) suited her game because the balls moved faster and quicker off the surface. Despite her failures in singles, she won the French in doubles and mixed doubles.
With Althea Gibson’s retirement during 1959, Maria found a new doubles partner in Darlene Hard. Though adversaries in the singles and mixed doubles, they became great friends off the court and artistic intuitionists on the court. They seem to be in synch spontaneously concerning self, court, and opponent awareness and knew how to respond to each situation, non-verbally with cohesion. Together, they won 5 grand slams in seven appearances. When Maria played in Australia, Darlene didn’t accompany her because Australia was far and expensive for an amateur. Maria played because her Brazilian Tennis Federation was willing to pay for her expenses due to her winnings and World No. 1 ranking. Yet in 1961, the BTF could not pay for Maria medical expenses when she suffered hepatitis during the French. After the canceling the French doubles finals with Darlene, Maria was quarantined at a Paris hotel for one month. Luckily, Darlene took care of her while sacrificing her chance to win the 1961 Wimbledon and her body as she was infected with hepatitis. Darlene would overcome her hepatitis and win the 1961 U.S. Nationals. As for Maria, she recovered to fly back to Brazil but was out of tennis for 1961.
In 1962, a new player was coming in full force to tennis. Her name was Margaret Smith (later Court) from Australia. That year, she won 3 out of 4 majors and the next year won 2 out of 4. She was the first woman in tennis to add weight training to her physical regiment: pulleys, curls, and barbells weighing over 150 pounds. Opponents were intimidated of her size, speed, and her competitiveness. She stood 5’9 and weighed 150 pounds. Margaret beat the smaller and stocky Darlene at the 1962 U.S. Nationals, so bad that Darlene eventually gave up trying to beat her. Maria kept trying despite Margaret’s dominance and her physical problems. Recovering gradually from hepatitis, she did not win any majors in 1962 but optimistic when she reached the semifinals of Wimbledon. In 1963, she won Gold at the Pan American games by beating Mexico’s, Yola Ramirez in singles (Darlene won bronze). The same year, she beat Margaret at the U.S. Nationals in straight sets but Margaret was still the No. 1 player of the year for winning the Australian and Wimbledon. In 1964, Darlene Hard decided to retire from amateur tennis to become a professional instructor at a country club. Maria remained an amateur and took on the challenge of beating Margaret for No. 1 in the world.
With Darlene out of the picture, Maria concentrated on beating Margaret for amateur supremacy while maintaining her doubles game with different partners such as Nancy Richey, Billie Jean King, and Margaret Court. She may have resented her dominance but she respected her play. The year 1964 did not start out too well for Maria, losing to Margaret in the French finals and suffering various other ailments when they met at the Wimbledon finals. The 1964 Wimbledon final is considered a classic with Bud Collins describing it as a “potpourri of shot making by both players” as well as speed and movement. The outcome was close with neither player gaining an advantage until the final set when Maria broke Margaret’s serve and closed the final set winning 6-3. Maria would go on to win the 1964 U.S. Nationals and become the No. 1 player.
Maria would go on to face Margaret many times but would lose to her at the 1965 Australian (default due to cramps) and at the Wimbledon finals. She would win one more major at the 1966 U.S. Nationals but arm and leg injuries would end her career at the end of 1968. That year, tennis became a professional sport and all 4 majors would become open tournaments. Maria missed out on getting paid for her profession. The five year period she missed from 1969-1974 was spent on rehabilitation with weights were added to her regiment. She would make comebacks in 1974, 1976, and 1977. But her injuries were too much to overcome and eventually retired for good in 1977. For her achievements and accomplishments, she was elected to the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1978.
As an older stateswoman, she has become an “ugly ducking” that has aged beautifully. Though no long moving swiftly and gracefully like a swallow, she still in attacking mode when it comes to today’s players. She doesn’t like all the screaming and the power that today’s tennis players display because it takes away the expression of art and poetry. It is all war now. She says that only Justine Henin plays the game with beauty and grace as well as power with a touch of a sculptor. Winning does matter but thinking about it does not allow players to play to the fullest. By combining the game as art and war, Maria has appealed to fans, young and old who like the aesthetic and competitive aspects of tennis.
© 2007 by Davan S. Mani
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