Helen Jacobs

Helen Hull Jacobs (August 6, 1908 – June 2, 1997) was a World No. 1 American female tennis player who won ten Grand Slam titles. She was born in Globe, Arizona, United States.

Jacobs had a powerful serve and overhead smash and a sound backhand, but she never learned to hit a flat forehand, despite her friendship, and some coaching, from Bill Tilden. Like both her Wightman Cup coach Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman and her archrival Helen Wills Moody, she grew up in Berkeley, California, learned the game at the Berkeley Tennis Club, pursued her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley and was inducted into the Cal Sports Hall of Fame.

Jacobs won five Grand Slam singles titles and was an eleven-time Grand Slam singles runner-up. Six of those losses were to Helen Wills Moody. Jacobs's only victory over Moody was in the final of the 1933 U.S. Championships. Moody retired from the match with a back injury while trailing 3–0 in the third set to a chorus of boos from the audience who believed that Moody quit the match merely to deny Jacobs the satisfaction of finishing out her victory. It was reported by many witnesses after the match that Moody still planned to play her doubles match later that afternoon but was advised against it. Years later, Moody confirmed her injury, saying, "My back is kind of funny. The vertebra between the fourth and fifth disk is thin. When the disk slips around it's intolerable. It rained the whole week before that final match. I lay in bed, and that was bad because it stiffened worse. I just couldn't play any longer, but I didn't say anything because it would look like an excuse." Jacobs almost defeated Moody again when she had match point at 6–3, 3–6, 5–3 in the 1935 Wimbledon Championships singles final but a mishit on a short lob, which she decided to let bounce, cost her the point and four games later the match. In the 1938 Wimbledon final against Moody, Jacobs turned her ankle at 4–4 in the first set and hobbled around the court for the remainder of the match, with Moody winning the final eight games and the second set lasting a mere eight minutes. When asked after the match why she did not accept Hazel Wightman's on-court advice to quit the match after the injury, Jacobs said that continuing was the sporting thing to do so that Moody could enjoy the full taste of victory, an obvious allusion to Moody's retirement from the 1933 U.S. final. Moody said, "I was very sorry about Helen's ankle. But it couldn't be helped, could it? I thought there was nothing I could do but get it over as quickly as possible." In total, Jacobs lost 14 of the 15 career singles matches she played against Moody.

Jacobs won three Grand Slam women's doubles titles and one in mixed doubles. She was the runner-up at six Grand Slam women's doubles tournaments and one Grand Slam mixed doubles tournament. She won the singles and women's doubles titles at the Italian Championships in 1934.

Jacobs, in 1933.

According to A. Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Jacobs was ranked in the world top ten from 1928 through 1939 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of World No. 1 in those rankings in 1936. With the exceptions of 1930 and 1938, Jacobs was included in the year-end top ten rankings by the United States Tennis Association from 1927 through 1941. She was the top ranked U.S. player from 1932 through 1935.

Jacobs was a member of the U.S. Wightman Cup team from 1927 through 1937 and again in 1939. Her lifetime record was 19–11.

In 1933, Jacobs became the first woman to break with tradition by wearing man-tailored shorts at Wimbledon.

While she was still playing tennis, Jacobs became a writer. Her first books were Modern Tennis (1933) and Improve Your Tennis (1936). She also wrote fictional works, such as Storm Against the Wind (1944). Her autobiography Beyond the Game appeared in 1936. In 1949 she published Gallery of Champions, a collection of biographies of female players, which she dedicated to Molla Mallory.

Honors and awards

Jacobs was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1933. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1962. In 2015, she was inducted into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.

Jacobs served as a commander in the U.S. Navy intelligence during World War II, one of only five women to achieve that rank in the Navy.

Long known to have been lesbian, she was in a relationship from 1934 to 1943 with Henrietta Bingham, daughter of Louisville publisher and ambassador to England Robert Bingham. Her partner in later life was Virginia Gurnee. Jacobs died of heart failure in East Hampton, New York on June 2, 1997.

Singles (5 titles, 11 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1928	U.S. Championships	Grass	Helen Wills	2–6, 1–6
Runner-up	1929	Wimbledon	Grass	Helen Wills	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	1930	French Championships	Clay	Helen Wills	2–6, 1–6
Runner-up	1932	Wimbledon	Grass	Helen Wills	3–6, 1–6
Winner	1932	U.S. Championships	Grass	Carolin Babcock	6–2, 6–2
Winner	1933	U.S. Championships (2)	Grass	Helen Wills	8–6, 3–6, 3–0 retired
Runner-up	1934	French Championships	Clay	Margaret Scriven	5–7, 6–4, 1–6
Runner-up	1934	Wimbledon	Grass	Dorothy Round	2–6, 7–5, 3–6
Winner	1934	U.S. Championships (3)	Grass	Sarah Palfrey	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	1935	Wimbledon	Grass	Helen Wills	3–6, 6–3, 5–7
Winner	1935	U.S. Championships (4)	Grass	Sarah Palfrey	6–2, 6–4
Winner	1936	Wimbledon	Grass	Hilde Krahwinkel	6–2, 4–6, 7–5
Runner-up	1936	U.S. Championships	Grass	Alice Marble	6–4, 3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	1938	Wimbledon	Grass	Helen Wills	4–6, 0–6
Runner-up	1939	U.S. Championships	Grass	Alice Marble	0–6, 10–8, 4–6
Runner-up	1940	U.S. Championships	Grass	Alice Marble	2–6, 3–6

Doubles (3 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1931	U.S. National Championships	Grass	Dorothy Round	Betty Nuthall Eileen Bennett Whittingstall	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	1932	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Elizabeth Ryan	Doris Metaxa Josane Sigart	4–6, 3–6
Winner	1932	U.S. National Championships	Grass	Sarah Palfrey	Alice Marble Marjorie Morrill	8–6, 6–1
Runner-up	1934	French Championships	Clay	Sarah Palfrey	Simonne Mathieu Elizabeth Ryan	6–3, 4–6, 2–6
Winner	1934	U.S. National Championships	Grass	Sarah Palfrey	Carolin Babcock Dorothy Andrus	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Winner	1935	U.S. National Championships	Grass	Sarah Palfrey	Carolin Babcock Dorothy Andrus	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	1936	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Sarah Palfrey	Freda James Kay Stammers	2–6, 1–6
Runner-up	1936	U.S. National Championships	Grass	Sarah Palfrey	Marjorie Gladman Van Ryn Carolin Babcock	7–9, 6–2, 4–6
Runner-up	1939	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Billie Yorke	Alice Marble Sarah Palfrey	1–6, 0–6

Mixed doubles (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1932	U.S. Championships	Grass	Ellsworth Vines	Sarah Palfrey Fred Perry	3–6, 5–7
Winner	1934	U.S. Championships	Grass	George Lott	Elizabeth Ryan Lester Stoefen	4–6, 13–11, 6–2

R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.

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