Legendary Brazilian tennis player Maria Bueno dies
SAO PAULO: Maria Bueno, the Brazilian “queen” of tennis, who won three Wimbledon and four US championship singles titles, died Friday in Sao Paulo at age 78, the hospital where she was being treated said.
She had been suffering from mouth cancer since last year and was hospitalized in May.
Nicknamed the “Sao Paulo Swallow” for her ability to dominate the net, Bueno was a teen prodigy despite having no formal coaching, according to the International Hall of Fame, which she entered in 1978.
She swept the Brazilian scene, then the Caribbean circuit, and grabbed international attention by winning the Italian Championships in 1958, beating the best English and Australian players.
That same year she went on to win the Wimbledon doubles alongside American Althea Gibson. And although she once told reporters “I’m afraid of everyone I play,” her glory days were only just beginning. Bueno’s death dominated Brazilian Twitter on Friday night, with tributes pouring in.
Brazilian President Michel Temer, writing on his official account, said Bueno “will always be remembered as the number one of tennis in the hearts of all Brazilians.”
On and off the court, Bueno “always showed a lot of fight,” Brazilian tennis player Bia Haddad said.
“She was a pioneer in our country, where few people knew the sport and at a time when everything was much more difficult,” said tennis player Thomaz Bellucci.
Known for her stylishness and her exciting way of playing, she was the first South American woman to win the Wimbledon singles title.