Athlete Names: Tennis, anyone??

We’ve talked about the names of great poets and painters and musicians and worthy political and social namesakes, but one area we’ve somewhat neglected is athlete names.

The names of tennis champs are interesting because they include both genders and are international in scope.  And since the US Open (then called the US Men’s Singles Championship) dates back to 1881and the Women’s to 1887, with Wimbledon starting in 1877 and the Davis Cup to 1900, there’s plenty of opportunity to look back and include some cool  vintage names as well.

These are the names of tennis champs (and a few high-ranked contenders who didn’t quite make it to the very top) with possess distinctive names—so sorry John, Bill and Billie–Jean.

GIRLS

ALICE Marble

ALINE Terry

ALTHEA Gibson

AMÉLIE Mauresmo

ANA Ivanocic

ANASTASIA Myskina

ARANTXA Sánchez-Vicario

BERTHA Townsend

BERYL Penrose Collier

BLANCHE Bigley

CILLY Aussem

CONCHITA Martinez

CORAL Buttsworth

DAPHNE Akhurst Cozens

DORA Boothby

DOROTHEA Douglass

ESNA Boyd Robertson

ETHEL Thomson

EVONNE Goolagong Cawley

FRANÇOISE Durr

GABRIELA Sabatini

GIGI Fernandez

HANA Mandlikova

HAZEL Hotchkiss

IVA Majoli

JANA Novotna

JULIETTE Atkinson

JUSTINE Henin

KORNELIA Bouman

LINDSAY Davenport

LOTTIE Dodd

MABEL Cahill

MAGDALENA Maleevaz

MARTINA Hingis/Navratilova

MAUD Watson/ Barger

MAY Sutton

MILA Jausovec

MOLLA Bjurstedt Mallory

MYRTLE McAlteer

NELLY Adamson Landry

PAULINE Betz Addie

SABINE Appelmans

SERENA Williams

SIMONE Mathieu

SUZANNE Langlen

SVETLANA Kuznetsova

SYLVIA Lance

VENUS Williams

VIRGINIA Wade

ZSUZSI Kormoczy

BOYS

ADRIAN Quist

ADRIANO Panatta

ALGERNON Kingscote

ANDRE Agassi

ANDRÉS Gomez

ANDERS Jarryd

ARNAUD Clément

ARTHUR Ashe

ASHLEY Cooper

BEALS Wright

BJÖRN Borg

BORIS Becker

BUDGE Patty

CHRISTO VAN Rensburg

DINNY Pails

ELLSWORTH Vines

EUSTACE Fannin

FABRICE Santoro

FREW McMillan

GARDNAR Mulloy

GASTÓN Gaudio

GORAN Ivaniševic

GOTTFRIED von Cramm

GUILLERMIO Vilas

GUSTAVO Kuerten

HENNER Henkel (!)

HOLCOMBE Ward

HORACE Rice

ILIE Nastase

ION Tiriac

IVAN Lendl

JACCO Eltingh

JAROSLAV Drobny

JOSHUA Pim

LEANDER Paes

LINDLEY Murray

LLEYTON Hewitt

MALCOLM Anderson/ Whitman

MANUEL Santana, Orantes

MARAT Safin

MARCEL Bernard

MATS Wilander

MURPHY Jensen

NEALE Fraser

NICOLA Pietrangeli

NIKKI Pilic

NOVAK Djokovic

OLIVER Campbell

OLIVIER Rochus

ONNY PArun

ORLANDO Sirola

OWEN Davidson

PANCHO Gonzales

PETR Korda

RAFAEL Nadal/Osuna

REGINALD Doherty

RENÉ Lacoste

REX Hartwig

RHYS Gemmell

RODNEY Heath

ROSCOE Tanner

SANDON Stolle

SERGI Bruguera

SPENCER Gore

SVEN Davidson

ULF Schmidt

VALENTINE Hall

VITAS Gerulaitis

VIVIAN McGrath

WILMER Allison

YANNICK Noah

YEVGENY Kafelnikov

YVON Petra

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