Louise Brough

Althea Louise Brough Clapp (née Brough; March 11, 1923 – February 3, 2014) was an American tennis player.

Louise Brough was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1923.

Her family moved to Beverly Hills, California when she was four years old.

She learned to play tennis on the public courts at Roxbury Park and was coached by Dick Skeen.

In her career between 1939 and 1959, she won six Grand Slam titles in singles as well as numerous doubles and mixed-doubles titles.

In 1940 and 1941, she won the U.S. Girls' Championships.

In women's doubles, Brough never failed to reach the quarterfinals at the 32 Grand Slam tournaments she played during her career.

She reached the semifinals 29 times and the final 28 times.

She usually teamed with her longtime friend Margaret Osborne duPont.

They won their first U.S. doubles title as a team at the 1942 U.S. National Championships.

That was the first of nine consecutive doubles titles at the U.S. national tournament.

This was the longest championship run in history in any event at any Grand Slam tournament.

From 1946 through 1955, she appeared in seven Wimbledon singles finals.

She also appeared in 21 of the 30 finals contested at Wimbledon in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles during those ten years.

In 1946, she lifted a "double" at Wimbledon, winning the women's doubles title, and the mixed doubles title partnering Tom Brown.

She played the French International Championships four times between 1946 and 1950, with her best result in singles being the semi-finals.

The slow clay courts in Paris were not suitable to her attacking style of play.

However, she won women's doubles titles there in 1946, 1947, and 1949.

In singles, Brough won the U.S. title in 1947 after being the runner-up in 1942 and 1943.

Although she appeared in three more singles finals, this remained her only U.S. singles title.

This was Brough's first defeat in a Grand Slam women's doubles match since the 1947 Wimbledon final.

In 1948, she had a match point at 6–5 in the third set against duPont.

At Wimbledon, Brough won three consecutive singles titles from 1948 through 1950, with her fourth and last title coming in 1955.

In 1948 and 1950, she won the rare "triple" at Wimbledon, sweeping the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles titles.

During this stretch, in 1949, she lifted another "double" at Wimbledon, winning the singles and women's doubles titles.

Alongside duPont, she won five doubles titles there.

She also won 3 more mixed doubles titles there with partners John Bromwich and Eric Sturgess.

Brough entered the Australian National Championships only once, in 1950, when she won the singles and women's doubles titles.

Brough came very close in 1950 to winning a calendar year Grand Slam in women's doubles.

She won the title at the Australian Championships with Doris Hart, and she won the titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships, both with Osborne duPont.

At the French International Championships, Brough and Osborne duPont reached the final and were heavy favorites to defeat Hart and Shirley Fry, but the latter team prevailed, 1–6, 7–5, 6–2.

Their attempt at a tenth consecutive title was unsuccessful because Osborne duPont was injured and unable to play the 1951 U.S. Nationals.

Osborne duPont also did not play there in 1952.

In 1953, their winning streak as a team at the U.S. Nationals reached 42 before they lost to Doris Hart and Shirley Fry in the final, 6–2, 7–9, 9–7.

Their career record as a team at the U.S. National Championships was 58–2, winning twelve of the 14 times they entered the tournament and losing only 12 sets in those 60 matches.

They played Wimbledon as a team seven times, winning five titles and compiling a 33–2 record.

At the French International Championships, they won three titles and had a 14–1 record.

Combining their record at these three Grand Slam tournaments, they had a win–loss record of 105–5, 95.45 percent and won 20 titles out of 25 attempts.

She also had three match points in the 1954 final against Doris Hart, the first at 5–4 in the third set and two more at 6–5 in that set.

At the end of the 1955 tennis season, Lance Tingay of the London Daily Telegraph ranked her world No. 1 for the year.