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 MABEL CAHILL'S CAREER AND ROLE IN TENNIS 

Mabel Cahill was an Irish female tennis player who is remembered for the role she played in tennis during the late 19thcentury period.

Cahill always had a huge passion for tennis while growing up alongside her 12 siblings. She would often play tennis recreationally and it was not long after until it was noticed that she was gifted in the sport.

Cahill started to play competitively in her early twenties. Her first tournament took place at the Kilkenny county and city tournament in 1984 where she came out victorious after beating her future rival May Langrishe.

In 1986, the pair would then face off again in Cahill’s first and only Irish Open tournament. This time around, Cahill did not even make it past the opening round as she suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of her rival, May Langrishe.

This defeat only motivated and pushed Cahill to work harder and improve. This proved to be the case shortly after as she claimed top spot at the Lansdowne Lawn Tennis Club tournament nearly a month after her humiliating defeat.

For the next 3 years, it had been understood that Cahill had remained in Dublin. She continued to practice and compete in minor tennis tournaments.

In 1990, she made the bold and courageous decision to move over to the United States in order to compete in the big U.S Open tennis championships.

There, she would go on to rewrite tennis history and be given the title of Ireland’s most successful tennis player ever.

Between 1891 and 1892, she won five titles during the U.S Open tennis championships campaign.

Two titles were won playing singles in which one of them came from defeating Ellen Roosevelt, first cousin to former president of the U.S, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Two more were won while competing in doubles and the final title came from playing mixed doubles. Not only did she win five titles, she was the first foreign player ever to win the U.S open title, she is the only Irish person ever to have won the title and she was the first person ever to have one the single, double and mixed tournament in the same year.

The year 1892 would prove to be her final year of playing tennis at a competitive level as she decided not to defend her title in 1893.

She lived an anonymous and secretive life in terms of tennis after her glory days in the early 1890s. Various sources suggested that she had left the U.S for England soon after she decided not to compete at an international level again.

In 1976, Cahill was entered into the “International Tennis Hall of Fame” alongside all the sporting greats over the past many years.

REFERENCES

1.     Mannion, N. (2018, December 19). Mabel Cahill, Irish tennis champion who won five US Opens. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/mabel-cahill-irish-tennis-champion-who-won-five-us-opens-1.3735938

2.     (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/mabel-cahill

3.     Friday, S. 08. (2017, September 7). The search for Ireland's greatest tennis player. Retrieved from https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/paul-rouse/the-search-for-irelands-greatest-tennis-player-458539.html