Margaret Molesworth

Maud Margaret 'Mall' Molesworth BEM (née Mutch; 18 October 1894 – 9 July 1985) was a tennis player from Queensland, Australia who won the inaugural Australasian Championships women's singles title in 1922 and successfully defended her title in 1923.

Margaret Molesworth
Margaret Molesworth, c.1941
Full nameMaud Margaret Mutch Molesworth
Country (sports) Australia
Born(1894-10-18)18 October 1894
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Died9 July 1985(1985-07-09) (aged 90)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Singles
Highest rankingNo. 10 (1922)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian OpenW (1922, 1923)
French Open3R (1934)
Wimbledon1R (1934)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian OpenW (1930, 1933, 1934)
Wimbledon3R (1934)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian OpenF (1923)

Tennis career

She won her first major tennis title in 1914 – the Queensland ladies doubles. For much of the next five years, sporting contests in Australia were cancelled due to World War I.

Molesworth won tennis championships in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania beginning in 1919. At the first Australian Championships in 1922, Molesworth defeated fellow Australian Esna Boyd Robertson 6–3, 10–8 in the final. A year later, she successfully defended her title, again defeating Robertson in the final.

Molesworth was unable to compete overseas until 1934 when, at age 40, she reached the last sixteen of the French Championships. At the 1934 Wimbledon Championships she lost in the first round of the singles event to Madzy Rollin Couquerque and reached the third round of the doubles with Joan Hartigan.[1]

In doubles, Molesworth won three women's titles at the Australian Championships with Emily Hood Westacott, in 1930, 1933, and 1934. She was also runner-up in women's and mixed doubles at the Australian Championships in 1923.

Molesworth was the first Australian woman tennis player to be listed in the world's top ten rankings. A. Wallis Myers of the Daily Telegraph rated her No. 10 in 1922 and 1923.[2]

In 1924, mainly for health reasons, Molesworth retired from the sport. She came back a few years later, always considered a threat in Australian tournaments. In 1934, she reached the Australian singles final once more. Later that year, she competed overseas for the first time, playing at Wimbledon and the French Championships.

Retirement

After her retirement from competitive play, Molesworth became one of the first female professional coaches in Australia. Until her death in 1985, she maintained a lifelong interest in the sport of tennis.[3]

In the 1972 Queen's Birthday Honours Molesworth received the British Empire Medal (BEM) for "service to the community of Ku-ring-gai, New South Wales.[4]

Personal

On 19 June 1918, in Brisbane, Molesworth married Bevil Hugh Molesworth (1891–1971), an educator and radio broadcaster.[5]

Molesworth died at her home in Lindfield on 9 July 1895. Her only son, Hugh (born 1925), predeceased her in 1960.[6]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)
Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Winner1922Australian ChampionshipsGrass Esna Boyd Robertson6–3, 10–8
Winner1923Australian ChampionshipsGrass Esna Boyd Robertson6–1, 7–5
Runner-up1934Australian ChampionshipsGrass Joan Hartigan1–6, 4–6

Doubles: 4 (4 titles)
Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Runner-up1923Australian ChampionshipsGrass Beryl Turner Esna Boyd Robertson
Sylvia Lance Harper		1–6, 4–6
Winner1930Australian ChampionshipsGrass Emily Hood Westacott Marjorie Cox Crawford
Sylvia Lance Harper		6–3, 0–6, 7–5
Winner1933Australian ChampionshipsGrass Emily Hood Westacott Joan Hartigan
Marjorie Gladman		6–3, 6–2
Winner1934Australian ChampionshipsGrass Emily Hood Westacott Joan Hartigan
Ula Valkenburg		6–8, 6–4, 6–4

Mixed doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)
Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Runner-up1923Australian ChampionshipsGrass Bert St. John Sylvia Lance Harper
Horace Rice		6–2, 4–6, 4–6

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)
Tournament19221923192419251926192719281929193019311932193319341935Career SR
Australian Championships W W QF A A A QF QF QF 1R A QF F 2R 2 / 10
French Championships1 A A NH A A A A A A A A A 3R A 0 / 1
Wimbledon A A A A A A A A A A A A 1R A 0 / 1
US Championships A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0
SR 1 / 1 1 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 3 0 / 1 2 / 12

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

1Through 1923, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. The World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussels, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from the 1922 and 1923 editions of that tournament are shown here. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.

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See also

References
  1. "Wimbledon players archive – Maud Molesworth". AELTC.
  2. Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 701. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
  3. "Tennis Coaches Australia :: History". 30 August 2007. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  4. "Maud Margaret Molesworth". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  5. Consandine, Marion, "Molesworth, Bevil Hugh (1891–1971)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 25 March 2019
  6. Cryle, Mark, "Molesworth, Maud Margaret (Mall) (1894–1985)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 25 March 2019
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