Australian tennis player

The Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup

Daphne Jessie Akhurst (22 April 1903 – 9 January 1933) known also by her married name Daphne Cozens, was an Australian tennis player.

Akhurst won the women's singles *le at the Australian Championships five times between 1925 and 1930. According to Wallis Myers (The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail), she was ranked World No. 3 in 1928.

Contents

• 1 Career
• 2 Personal life
• 3 Legacy
• 4 Grand Slam finals
  • 4.1 Singles: 5 *les
  • 4.2 Doubles: 6 (5 *les, 1 runner-up)
  • 4.3 Mixed Doubles: 6 (4 *les, 2 runners-up)
• 5 Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
• 6 See also
• 7 References
• 8 Further reading
• 9 External links

Career

The second daughter of Oscar James Akhurst, a lithographer, and his wife Jessie Florence (née Smith), Daphne Akhurst won the women's singles *le at the Australian Championships five times, in 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, and 1930. She is fourth on the list of most women's singles *les at the Australian Championships; behind only Margaret Court with eleven *les, Serena Williams with seven and Nancye Wynne Bolton with six *les. She won the women's doubles *le at the Australian Championships five times: in 1924 and 1925 with Sylvia Lance Harper, in 1928 with Esna Boyd Robertson, and in 1929 and 1931 with Louie Bickerton. She and Marjorie Cox were the runners-up in 1926.

In 1925 she was part of the first Australian women's team to tour Europe and reached the quarterfinal of the singles event at Wimbledon which she lost to Joan Fry. During her second and last European tour in 1928, she reached the singles quarterfinal at the French Championships, in which Cristobel Hardie defeated her, and the semifinal at Wimbledon, which she lost in straight sets to Lili de Alvarez.

Akhurst won the mixed doubles *le at the Australian Championships four times: in 1924 and 1925 with Jim Willard, in 1928 with Jean Borotra, and in 1929 with Gar Moon. She and Willard were the runners-up in 1926. She and her partner Jack Crawford reached the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon in 1928, but lost to the team of Elizabeth Ryan/Patrick Spence, 7–5, 6–4.

Akhurst won the singles *le at the German Championships in 1928 after a three-sets victory in the final against defending champion Cilly Aussem.

Personal life

Akhurst attended the Miss. E. Tildesley's Normanhurst School, followed by the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. On 26 February 1930 at St Philip's Church of England, Sydney, Daphne Akhurst married Royston Stuckey Cozens, a tobacco manufacturer, and retired from serious compe*ion soon after winning the Australian ladies' doubles championship in 1931. They had one son, Don.

Daphne Akhurst Cozens died on 9 January 1933, aged 29, from an ectopic pregnancy.

Legacy

Since 1934 the trophy presented each year to the winner of the women's singles at the Australian Open is named the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in her honour. She was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame on Australia Day (26 January), 2006. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 5 *les

Doubles: 6 (5 *les, 1 runner-up)

Mixed Doubles: 6 (4 *les, 2 runners-up)

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

1The French Championships were not held in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris that year.

See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

References

Further reading

• Regan, Kerry (1979). "Akhurst, Daphne Jessie (1903–1933)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol.:7. Melbourne University Press. ISSN:1833-7538 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.

External links

• Daphne Akhurst at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Daphne Akhurst at Tennis Australia

WomenContributors

• Russ Adams
• George Adee
• Lawrence Baker
• John Barrett
• Nick Bollettieri
• Vic Braden
• Jane Brown Grimes
• Butch Buchholz
• Philippe Chatrier
• Gianni Clerici
• Bud Collins
• Joseph Cullman
• Allison Danzig
• Mike Davies
• Herman David
• Donald Dell
• Cliff Drysdale
• Steve Flink
• David Gray
• Clarence Griffin
• Gustaf V
• Derek Hardwick
• Gladys Heldman
• William Hester
• Lamar Hunt
• Nancy Jeffett
• Robert Walter Johnson
• Perry T. Jones
• Robert J. Kelleher
• Peachy Kellmeyer
• Al Laney
• Alastair Martin
• Dan Maskell
• William McChesney Martin
• Mark McCormack
• Julian Myrick
• Arthur Nielsen
• Mary Ewing Outerbridge
• Brad Parks
• Charlie Pasarell
• Gene Scott
• Lance Tingay
• Ted Tinling
• Ion Țiriac
• Brian Tobin
• Jimmy Van Alen
• Walter Clopton Wingfield

Global amb*adors

• Martina Hingis
• Gustavo Kuerten