Adrianne Haydon Jones
EnglandAnn Jones is a former professional tennis player. In 1967, she reached a career-high singles ranking of World Number 2. She has three singles Grand Slam titles, three women’s doubles, and two mixed doubles titles.
Player Profile
Ann Shirley Jones, CBE (née Adrianne Haydon) was born on October 17, 1938, in Kings Heath, Birmingham, England. She is left-handed.Popular as “Ann,” Adrianne Shirley Haydon Jones has had a brilliant career both in lawn tennis and in table tennis. Ann destroyed the conventions of tennis.
When most of the players were slim and almost mannish in form, she was a buxom blonde who stood at 5’7 and weighed 135 pounds; when most of the athletes were right-handed, she was a leftie.
She is the first left-hander in the Women’s category to win Wimbledon titles.
Career
Jones came from a family of athletes. Her parents were legends in the field of table tennis, her father Adrian occupying the top spot in the UK, being a premier competitor at world championships from the late 1920s well through the early 1950s.When Jones was a young woman, she competed in the game of table tennis, competing in five world championship games in the 1950s. After reaching as far as the finals in the Singles, Doubles, and Mixed doubles categories in 1957, a rare feat, she wrote a book entitled “Tackle Table Tennis This Way.”
Playing both sports at the same time, Jones significantly made her mark playing on the court, however, winning the 1954 and 1955 British junior championships. Then, in 1956, she finally bagged the Wimbledon Women’s Singles title.
Jones excelled in tennis despite the intensely competitive era wherein the likes of Billie Jean King and Maria Bueno made the courts abuzz with excitement and athletic aggression. She won the French Open Championships in 1961 and 1962 however, despite competing against such fierce competitors.
She eventually teamed up with King, Françoise Durr, and Rosie Casals to go on tour. They comprised the very first professional female touring troupe of the National Tennis League in 1968, with tennis legend George MacCall as promoter.
Jones’ stellar career includes eight Grand Slam championships in the Singles, Doubles, and Mixed Doubles categories.
She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985.
Career Record
Singles
- Career Record: 1077-244 (81.5%)
- Career Titles: 136
- Highest Singles Ranking: 2 (1967, Lance Tingay)
Best Grand Slam Singles Performances
- Australian Open - SF (1969)
- French Open - W (1961, 1966)
- Wimbledon - W (1969)
- US Open - F (1961, 1967)
Doubles
Best Grand Slam Doubles Performances
- Australian Open - SF (1969)
- French Open - W (1963, 1968, 1969)
- Wimbledon - F (1968)
- US Open - F (1960)
Mixed Doubles
Best Grand Slam Mixed Doubles Performances
- Australian Open - W (1969)
- French Open - F (1960, 1966, 1967)
- Wimbledon - W (1969)
People Ask
What was Ann Jones's highest ranking?>Number 2. She reached a career-high world ranking of Number 2 in 1967.
Is Ann Jones left-handed?
>Yes. Ann Jones was a left-handed tennis player.