Quick Facts
Biography
Anita Kanter (born 1933) of Santa Monica, California, was an American amateur tennis player in the 1950s.
In singles, Kanter was ranked # 6 in the United States in 1952, and # 9 in 1953.
Tennis career
She won the U.S. girls tennis championship in 1951 as an 18-year-old sophomore at the University of California-Los Angeles.
In 1952 she won the U.S. clay court championship, and was the runner-up at the Foothills Cup. In 1952, at the Cincinnati Masters, she won both the singles and doubles titles. In 1953 she won the U.S. National hard court tennis championship, successfully defended her doubles title, and reached the singles final.
She was seeded No. 1 in singles and doubles in both appearances in Cincinnati. (In doubles in those two years, she paired with Joan Merciadis in 1952, and Thelma Long of Australia in 1953.)
Maccabiah Games
Kanter, who is Jewish, competed in the 1953 Maccabiah Games—the "Jewish Olympics". At the Games, Kanter—ranked # 9 in the U.S. at the time—lost the women's singles title to Angela Buxton, but won the mixed doubles title with Grant Golden and the women's double title.