Winifred Longhurst

Winifred Mary Arden Longhurst (1873 – 24 November 1958 ) was a British tennis player. She was a four time quarter finalist in singles in the Wimbledon Championships in 1902, 1904, 1906 and 1912. She was active from 1892 until 1921 and won 29 career singles titles.

Career

Longhurst was born in 1878 in Worcester, Worcestershire, England. She began her amateur tennis career in 1892. In major tournaments she competed at Wimbledon seven times in the women's all-comers singles event where she was 4 time Wimbledon quarter finalist (1902, 1904, 1906, 1912).

Her major career singles titles include winning national and international level events including the Irish Championships three times from 1904 to 1906, the Welsh Championships two times from 1901 to 1902, the Austrian Championships in 1903 and the Scottish Championships in 1904.

Her other singles titles at regional level tournaments include winning the Midland Counties Championships in 1895 and 1902. At county level events she won the Suffolk County Championships which she won twice in 1901 and 1902. She won the Essex Championships in 1902. She won one time titles at the Sussex Championships in 1905.

She was also a finalist at the East of England Championships in 1902, the West Sussex Championships in 1903, the Kent Coast Championships in 1904 and 1905, the Cinque Ports Championships in 1905, the Worcestershire Championships in 1908, the Warwickshire Championships in 1909, the Shropshire Championships in 1911, the Carlisle Open and Derbyshire Championships in 1913. Winifred was actively playing tennis until as late as 1921 when she was a ladies doubles finalist at the Worcestershire Championships partnering with Gladys Foster.

Style of play

The former tennis player turned The Daily Telegraph sports journalist Arthur Wallis Myers gives an account of her playing style in his book.

Miss Winifred Longhurst is a steadily improving player, with an equipment of powerful strokes and possessed of sound judgement. She is best in singles and is now the Champion of Wales, Essex, and the Midlands. Before that, Miss Longhurst held the Suffolk championship for two years.:

— V: Players of the Present, Lawn Tennis at Home and Abroad (1903). Charles Scribner's sons. New York. pp. 182-183.

Career finals

Singles titles (29)

Family

Winfred never married, her younger sister was Edith Longhurst who was also a tennis player.

External links

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