The Website of Maria Bueno, Tennis Champion
|
|
|
|
More Triumph, The Dark Years, Retirement and Beyond (1965 to date)[Back to > The Crowning Glory]
She reached the final at Wimbledon but her
hesitant volleying told of a deep seated anxiety, and after losing to Billie
Jean Moffitt in the American semi-finals it was no longer possible to ignore the
need for surgery. Just before Christmas that year Maria entered the D Pedro II Hospital in Sâo Paulo where João Di Vicenzo, one of Brazil’s leading orthopaedic surgeons, took 140 minutes to remove two menisci from her left knee. The operation needed three incisions which took 40 stitches to pull together. Bed-ridden and frustrated, it took four months before Maria could get near a tennis court again. Determined not to waste time, she checked herself out of hospital early against the advice of her physiotherapists and set about her own rehabilitation. She made it back to Paris where she lost to
Ann Jones, anxiety about her knee and lack of sleep contributing to her
ill-ease. She had lost 20 lbs and looked tired a Another loss at Beckenham after a severe attack of colic resulting from gall stones was another set-back but she nevertheless reached the final at Wimbledon where lack of physical power and confidence left her vulnerable to the persistent attacks of Billie Jean King.
The strain of playing in three events a week during a schedule that kept her on the road for nearly 52 weeks in the year was beginning to tell. A wet Wimbledon in 1967 that demanded Maria played matches back to back and a total of 120 games in just one day destroyed the arm and caused her to later withdraw from Forest Hills. Although the fundamental physical damage had been done, she continued to play for another season with some considerable success. Ironically, she was stopped at the 1968
Wimbledon in the quarters by Nancy Richey while suffering from a bad leg but
went on to New York to defeat Margaret Court in three sets in the quarter-finals
before losing to King by a similar score.
Maria was finally forced to retire in early 1969 during the Caribbean Circuit in Caracas when she was unable to use her playing arm even to pick up a glass. Doctors told her the damage was so severe she would never play again. This was Maria’s darkest hour. Destroyed at having to give up the game she loved, she sought help from every possible source. Several operations virtually rebuilt her arm and shoulder and it is a credit to her strength of resolve that she rehabilitated herself for a third time over a long and difficult seven years of recovery.
This courage in the face of adversity is
the mettle of which such heroes and heroines are made. For such a great champion to have been felled at the height of her career on the eve of Open Tennis was a tragedy in itself, but to have to endure indescribable pain as part of her everyday life was further cruelty.
Her popularity was as great as ever but her adoring public had little idea of the sacrifices she was making to play again in the one place she loved the most - the Centre Court. Having to restrict her play to just one hour a day to help save the arm, and with the aid of Cortisone injections to reduce the inflammation, Maria made it through the draw to meet Sue Barker in the quarter-finals. It was a nostalgic match that started with Maria dominating to win the first set with the style which her fans had so admired. Sue’s fight-back to snatch the second took
the match well beyond the hour Maria needed to complete the proceedings and,
with each passing minute, the Champion’s After that loss Maria decided that she could not continue to pursue a singles career to the heights she sought without placing herself at risk. She had proved her point, mostly to herself, and had already in a sense succeeded against the odds.
Maria was enticed out of her early retirement in 1984 by Philippe Chatrier, long time friend and President of the International Tennis Federation, when he invited her to serve on the Honorary Committee of the Federation Cup that was held in Sâo Paulo that year. It was the beginning of an association with the ITF that saw her act as Ambassador to the Sport Goofy World Championships for Players Aged 14, 12 and Under, and as a Consultant to the South American women’s tennis development programme. Both these areas utilised her exceptional skills with children and young people which marked her return to the tennis world. She also assisted the Women’s Tennis Association with their player education seminars. In the late eighties and early nineties Maria competed again, this time round in the senior events held at Wimbledon, the US Open and the Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden. She reached the finals of the senior mixed doubles played on the Stadium court at Flushing Meadow in 1991 and played her last competitive match there in 1993. Throughout this period, Maria has continued to develop new skills by making personal appearances both on and off the court. She now gives demonstrations of her unique and classic style of tennis, runs successful teaching clinics around the world as well as making after-dinner speeches, and doing television and radio commentaries. Replacement hip surgery in April 1992 slowed her down for a while but Maria’s well-proven recovery powers again came to her aid and she was back to a full schedule by Wimbledon that year. She endured further surgery to her other hip in November 2001 with the same stoicism she has met all adversity in the past, returning to her personal appearances within a few short months. Maria Bueno is, without question, one of the greatest legendary players of all time, held in great affection by legions of admirers around the world. |
|
Click on the logo to visit our website
|
