Queen of the court Maria Bueno dies at 78
● Maria Bueno, the Brazilian “queen” of tennis, who won three Wimbledon and four US championship singles titles, has died in Sao Paulo aged 78.
She had been suffering from mouth cancer and was hospitalised in May.
Bueno was a teen prodigy despite having no formal coaching. 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 year she won the Wimbledon doubles alongside American Althea Gibson. And though she once told reporters, “I’m afraid of everyone I play”, her glory days were only just beginning.
On and off the court, Bueno “always showed a lot of fight”, said Brazilian tennis player Bia Haddad.
“She was a pioneer in our country, where few people knew the sport and at a time when everything was much more difficult,” said another Brazilian 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.
Tennis commentator John Barrett called her “the elegant queen of Brazilian tennis”.
Her one major title of the open era, when big tournaments were opened to professionals, was the 1968 US Open doubles alongside Australian legend Margaret Court.
Another doubles partner was Billie Jean King, with whom she won the Wimbledon title in 1965.
“In my era, tennis was totally amateur. I’d only take two rackets to a tournament and the prize for winning Wimbledon was a £15 voucher,” she said in a 2015 interview.
“But through sport I got things that money can’t buy. I even met the pope and Princess Diana.”
For years after retirement she was a commentator on Brazil’s SporTV.
World No 1 in 1959, 1960, 1964 and 1966, Bueno was Brazil’s best player, winning 19 grand slam titles. These included Wimbledon singles titles in 1959, 1960 and 1964, and the US national championship — precursor to today’s US Open — in 1959, 1963, 1964 and 1966.
Bueno was a consultant for several years for Brazilian television.
Always smiling in her television appearances, Bueno continued playing until last year, when she was stricken by disease.