Simonne Mathieu

Simonne Mathieu ( Passemard;) (31 January 1908 – 7 January 1980) was a female tennis player from France, born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, who was active in the 1930s. She won the French Championships singles title in 1938 and 1939.

During World War II, she created and led the Corps of French Volunteers in the Free French Forces, the first female unit in the military history of France.

Tennis career
Mathieu is best remembered for winning two major singles titles at the French Championships (in 1938 and 1939), and for reaching the final of that tournament an additional six times, in 1929, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, and 1937. In those finals, she lost three times to Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling, twice to Helen Wills Moody, and once to Margaret Scriven.

Mathieu won 11 Grand Slam doubles championships: three women's doubles titles at Wimbledon (1933–34, 1937), six women's doubles titles at the French Championships (1933–34, 1936–39), and two mixed-doubles titles at the French Championships (1937–38). She completed the rare triple at the French Championships in 1938, winning the singles, women's doubles, and mixed-doubles titles.

Mathieu's 13 Grand Slam titles are second only to Suzanne Lenglen's 21 among French women.

According to A. Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail respectively, Mathieu was ranked in the world top 10 from 1929 through 1939 (no rankings were issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of world No. 3 in 1932.

The winners' trophy of the women's doubles event at the French Open is named in her honour as the Coupe Simonne-Mathieu.

World War II
During World War II, Captain Mathieu was founder of the Corps Féminin Français, the women's volunteer branch of the Free French Forces, similar to the British Auxiliary Territorial Service. Mathieu was succeeded in that position by Captain Hélène Terré. For their service, each woman was named an Officer of the Legion of Honor.

Honours
She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006.

In November 2017, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) announced that the third show-court at Roland Garros will be named Court Simonne-Mathieu in her honor.

Grand Slam singles performance timeline
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.

1In 1946, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon.