The tennis ace who ruled the game in the 1950s
Shirley Fry Irvin 1927–2021
Shirley Fry Irvin was a dominant force in women’s tennis in the 1950s. A 5-foot-5 right-hander with fast feet and a solid ground stroke, she won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open in 1951, beating her friend and world No. 1 Doris Hart in straight sets. She would become one of only 10 female players to win the singles titles at all four Grand Slam tournaments, and also racked up 12 women’s doubles championships at those events. Had she been competing in the pro tennis era rather than at a time when all players were amateurs, Fry Irvin said in 1990, she would have taken some $20 million in prize money. Despite her remarkable record, Fry Irvin gave a modest assessment of her own abilities. “I really wasn’t that good of a player,” she said in 2000. “I excelled in running and concentration, [but] I had no serve.”
Shirley June Fry grew up “an athletic child” in Akron, Ohio, trying sports including baseball, hockey, archery, and badminton, said The New York Times. “Tennis won out,” and by age 10 she was traveling alone to tournaments all across the U.S. In 1941, the then 14-year-old became the youngest female player to compete in the U.S. National Championships, and in the early 1950s formed a powerhouse doubles partnership with Hart. But “a nagging elbow injury” led Fry to retire from tennis in 1954. She took a job as a copy girl at the St. Petersburg, Fla., Times, where one of her first duties was “sending the story of her own retirement down to the composing room.”
Her retirement was short-lived, said the Associated Press. Two years later, at 28, Fry accepted an invitation “to represent the U.S. in the Wightman Cup.” A remarkable winning streak followed, with Fry taking the singles titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1956 and at the Australian Open in 1957. She “decided to go out on top” and retired again that year, said The Washington Post, after marrying an advertising executive and tennis umpire whose calls she’d furiously complained about. Fry Irwin went on to coach tennis, raise four children, and become an avid golfer, despite a high handicap that belied her athletic triumphs. “It’s a little embarrassing,” she said in 2000. “You say, ‘She won Wimbledon?’ Then you see me playing golf and say, ‘How could she?’”