"Tennis Legend" Rosie Casals Hand Signed 7.5X10 Cardstock Photo Todd Mueller COA

Description

Up for auction "Tennis Legend" Rosie Casals Hand Signed 7.5X10 Cardstock Photo.
This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-137A
Rosemary
"
Rosie
"
Casals
(born September 16, 1948) is a former American professional
tennis
player. Rosemary Casals earned her reputation as a rebel in the tennis world when she began competing in the early 1960s. During a tennis career that spanned more than two decades, she won more than 90 tournaments, and was a motivating force behind many of the changes that occurred in women's tennis during the 1960s and 1970s. The frustrations Casals endured due to her size and background affected her playing style. Despite her sweet-sounding nicknames, "Rosie" and "Rosebud," she was known as a determined player who used any shot available to her to score a point — even one between her legs. "I wanted to be someone," Casals was quoted as saying in Alida M. Thacher's
Raising a Racket: Rosie Casals.
"I knew I was good, and winning tournaments — it's a kind of way of being accepted." By age 16 Casals was the top junior and women's level player in northern California. At 17 she was ranked eleventh in the country and was earning standing ovations for her aggressive playing style. More experience on the national and international levels of play helped Casals improve her game. In 1966 she and
Billie Jean King
, her doubles partner, won the U.S. hard-court and indoor tournaments. That same year they reached the quarter-finals in the women's doubles at Wimbledon. In 1967 Casals and King took the doubles crown at Wimbledon
and at the United States and South African championships. The two dominated women's doubles play for years, becoming one of the most successful duos in tennis history. (They are the only doubles team to have won U.S. titles on
grass
,
clay
, indoor, and
hard surface
s). Casals was also a successful individual player, ranking third among U.S. women during this period. Casals soon became involved in another innovation:
World Team Tennis
(WTT). WTT involved tennis teams, each made up of two women and four men, from cities throughout the United States. Matches included both singles and doubles games. During her years with WTT, Casals played with the
Detroit Loves
in 1974, the
Los Angeles Strings
from 1975 through 1977, the
Anaheim Oranges
in 1978, and the
Oakland Breakers
in 1982, before serving as the player-coach of the
San Diego Friars
in 1983. She later played for the
St. Louis Eagles
in 1984, the
Chicago Fyre
in 1985, the
Miami Beach Breakers
in 1986, and the
Fresno Sun-Nets
in 1988.
Casals won 112 professional doubles tournaments, the second most in history behind
Martina Navratilova
.
Her last doubles championship was at the 1988 tournament in
Oakland, California
, where her partner was Navratilova.
Casals played in a total of 685 singles and doubles tournaments during her career.