Joan Hartigan

Joan Hartigan Bathurst, a tall and athletic Australian female tennis player, who was born in Sydney, Australia on June 6, 1912. She was the first woman who did a self-funded tour in Europe in 1934 and 1935. She was also known as Australia’s number one ranked singles tennis player, women’s category from 1933 to 1936.

In 1933, at the age of 21, she won her first singles match and took the Australian Championship title from fellow Australian Coral McInnes Buttsworth.

In the following year, 1934, she was again declared as the champion in the same Australian Championship tournament this time defeating Margaret Molesworth, also a native Australian.

In that same year, Bathurst played in the Wimbledon tournament but only reached the semifinal round losing to the American player, Helen Hull Jacobs. The same case also happened in the year 1935, this time losing the Wimbledon semifinal spot to Helen Wills Moody, also an American player.

She then teamed up with Australian tennis player Edgar Moon for the Australian Championship mixed doubles in 1934, which they won. In 1936, she again took the Australian Open title, this time beating Australian player Nancye Wynne Bolton. Bathurst made it to the women’s double finals at the Australian Championships from 1933 to 1934, and in 1940.

She made it to the top ten worlds ranking in 1934 to 1935, peaking at No. 8th in the world in the year 1934. Bathurst, famous for her power game, remained close to the top of the Australian women's tennis circle until the war years.

She died last August 31, 2000 at the age of 88.