Louise Brough

Althea Louise Brough Clapp (March 11, 1923 – February 3, 2014) was an American tennis player. During her career between 1942 and 1957, she won six Grand Slam singles titles as well as numerous doubles and mixed doubles titles. She was ranked world no. 1 by Lance Tingay in 1955.

Biography

Louise Brough (pronounced Bruff) was born in Oklahoma City 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 1940 and 1941, she won the US Girls' Championships.

In doubles, Brough usually teamed with her longtime friend Margaret Osborne duPont. Both won their first US doubles title at the 1942 US Championships. The successful pair won another eight consecutive doubles titles at Forest Hills until 1950 which is the longest championship run in history in any event at any Grand Slam tournament. Brough and duPont did not play as a team at the US Championships in 1951 or 1952 but in 1953, they returned to extend their record match winning streak to 41 before losing to Hart and Shirley Fry Irvin in the final, 6–2, 7–9, 9–7. Their career record as a team at the US Championships was 58–2, winning 12 of the 14 times they entered the tournament and losing only five sets in those 14 years. In singles, Brough won the US title in 1947. Although she appeared in five more singles finals at Forest Hills, this would remain her only US singles title. In 1948, she had a match point at 6–5 in the third set against duPont. 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.