Doris Hart

Tennis champion Born: June 20, 1925; Died: May 29, 2015. DORIS Hart, who has died aged 89, was a champion tennis player who won 35 major titles in the 1940s and 1950s and three titles at Wimbledon in a single day.

The American was the first player to win a career “boxed set” of every title possible over her career – singles, doubles and mixed doubles – at the four major tournaments. Only Martina Navratilova and Margaret Court Smith have equalled the feat.

Hart’s titles came despite the fact she suffered from osteomyelitis in her right leg that left a permanent impairment. At one point amputation was considered. “For her to do what she did was special because she couldn’t run as well as other people. And yet she had the smarts,” long-time doubles partner Shirley Fry once said.

Hart’s game was based more on finesse than power, with matchless racquet control and an arsenal of shots. Her best weapon was the drop shot, which she practised endlessly as a youngster. She would hit it even from behind the baseline, floating winners just over the net.

“I’d be criticised,” she said. “I can remember losing matches, and people would come up to me and say, ‘Girl, do you know how many times you missed that drop shot? If you hadn’t done that, blah blah blah.’ And I’d say, ‘Thank you.’ But I knew I had to do it. That’s what would win for me.”

A native of St Louis, she won seven major titles in 1951 and played three finals at Wimbledon in one day because of games backing up after rain delays. She lost only one set during the two-week tournament and defeated Fry for the singles title, 6-1 6-0. “I wasn’t tired, I was on cloud nine,” she said.

Hart, who played collegiate tennis at University of Miami, won 11 titles at the US Nationals, 10 at both Wimbledon and the French Championship and four at the Australian.

Her 35 wins ties her for fifth on the major titles list with Louise Brough. She won her first major title in 1947, teaming with Patricia Todd to win the Wimbledon doubles.

Her first major singles championship came at the 1949 Australian Championships when she defeated Nancye Wynne Bolton, 6-3, 6-4. Fry and Hart took 11 major titles, including four straight from 1950 to 1953 at Roland Garros.

Her friend Jacqueline Mulloy said her three wins in one day at Wimbledon was particularly remarkable. “That I think is unique in itself,” said Mulloy. “She will be remembered as a unique and wonderful player. She had plenty of guts.”

Donna Fales, 74, an accomplished amateur tennis player, said she met Hart after moving to Florida in 1969. “She is someone I looked up to,” said Fales, 74. “She was a great champion and great competitor with great integrity; a wonderful representative of the sport.”

After she retired, Hart worked as a teaching pro for 28 years at a club in Pompano Beach, but neck trouble forced her to give up tennis in 1993.

Later in life, she shunned the pro tennis scene, although she did watch matches on television even though she disliked the style of some modern players. “There’s really not much strategy involved,” she says. “It’s not that appealing to watch.”

Hart was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame, in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1969. She left no immediate survivors.