Christine Truman Christine Truman Janes, (born on January 16, 1941 in Woodford Green, England), was a female tennis player from Great Britain. The British Junior Champion in 1956 and 1957, she made her Wimbledon debut in 1957 aged 16 and reached the Semi-Final, where she lost to Althea Gibson. In 1958, she caused a sensation by defeating the Wimbledon Champion, Althea Gibson, in the Wightman Cup and helped bring the cup back to Great Britain after twenty one consecutive defeats by the USA. However, a few weeks later at Wimbledon as the # 2 Seed, she was beaten in the 4th round by the gritty little American, Mimi Arnold. That loss began a reputation for Christine as an unpredictable performer.In 1959 she became the youngest French Championships women's singles champion at the age of 18 (Steffi Graf became the youngest in 1987; Monica Seles in 1990.). That year, by far her greatest, also saw her as the Italian Champion and runner-up at the U.S Championships. Unfortunately, she failed to justify her # 1 Seeding at Wimbledon and lost in the 4th Round to the Mexican, Yola Ramirez. That year, partnered with Beverly Baker Fleitz, she reached the Doubles Final and the QF of the Mixed Doubles with her brother, Humphrey. In 1960, seeded # 3 at Wimbledon, she lost in the Semi-Final to Maria Bueno in three sets and in 1961, seeded #6, she caused a major boilover by beating the #2 seed, Margaret Smith 3-6 6-3 9-7 in the QF after coming back from 1-4 down in the final set and saving two match-points. She then beat Renée Schuurman of South Africa 6-4 6-4 in the SF before going down 4-6 6-4 7-5 to fellow-Britain Angela Mortimer in the Final.
She was ranked in the World Top 10 six times between 1957 and 1965, reaching a career high World No. 2 in 1959. She played Wightman Cup between 1957-1971 (winning the Cup in 1958, 1960, 1968) and Fed Cup in 1963, 1965 and 1968, posting a 6-3 singles record and 2-2 doubles record.
