Violet Summerhayes

Violet Summerhayes (May 31, 1878 – 1974) was an English-born Canadian tennis player in the early twentieth century. She won the Rogers Cup championship from 1899 to 1905.

Violet Summerhayes, from a 1902 publication.

Violet Summerhayes, from a 1906 publication.

Violet Summerhayes in action, circa 1908.

Early life

Violet Marian Summerhayes was born in England and raised in Toronto, Ontario. Her father William F. Summerhayes was a barrister and tennis supporter.^[1] She developed her tennis skills with her siblings, at the St. Matthew's Church Tennis Club in Riverdale.^[2] She also trained as a kindergarten assistant in Toronto, passing the government examination in 1896.^[3]

Career

Summerhayes dominated Canadian women's tennis at the turn into the twentieth century, with seven singles wins at the Canadian Open.^[4][5] She won the International Championship Ladies' Singles event at Niagara in 1905.^[6] She competed at Beckenham and Wimbledon in 1907,^[7][2] and at Niagara again in 1908 and 1909.^[8][9]

Summerhays competed in women's doubles with Myrtle McAteer at Niagara in 1903^[10] and mixed doubles in 1909.^[11][12] A "Miss Summerhayes" was reported as competing in women's doubles at Toronto in 1920.^[13]

Summerhayes' streak of four consecutive Rogers Cup victories stood as a record for almost a century, until Monica Seles tied the record.^[14]

Personal life

Violet Summerhayes appears in the Toronto City Directory in 1928 in connection with the Women's Auxiliary to the Church of England Missionary Society.^[15] She died in 1974, aged 96 years, in Toronto.