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Medal record
Competitor for  England
Maccabiah Games
Women's tennis
Gold	1953 Israel	Women's Singles
Gold	1957 Israel	Women's Singles

Angela Buxton (born August 16, 1934, in Liverpool, England) is an English tennis player.

She won the women's doubles title at both the French Championships and Wimbledon in 1956 with Althea Gibson. Buxton was the first Jewish champion at Wimbledon, and Gibson was the first champion of African descent.

Contents 1 Tennis Accomplishments 1.1 Maccabiah Games 1.2 Judaism's Role in Buxton's Career; Anti-Semitism 2 Writing 3 International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame 4 Grand Slam singles final 4.1 Runner-up (1) 5 Grand Slam singles tournament timeline 6 Miscellaneous 6.1 See also 7 Link

Buxton began playing tennis as a youngster at a boarding school in North Wales. Coach Bob Mulligan immediately recognized her talent, and entered her into a junior tournament, where she won the under-14, under-15, and under-18 titles.

After spending time in London and Los Angeles, in 1954 Buxton earned the British # 4 ranking.

She then reached the 1955 Wimbledon singles quarterfinals, and the # 9 spot in the world rankings.

Buxton played in Wightman Cup competition for Great Britain in 1954, 1955, and 1956.

Buxton had her most successful tennis season in 1956. She won the women's doubles title and reached the singles final at Wimbledon. She won the English Indoor and London Grass Court singles championships, and the English Hard Court doubles crown (with Darlene Hard). At the French Championships, she reached the singles semifinals and won the women's doubles title with Gibson. An English newspaper reported their victory at Wimbledon under the headline "Minorities Win." She was ranked # 5 worldwide by World Tennis Magazine.

Tennis players made no money in the ‘50s, and Gibson’s finances worsened over the years. In 1992, she suffered a stroke. A few years later, Gibson called Buxton and told her she was on the brink of suicide. Gibson was living on welfare, and unable to pay for rent or medication. Buxton arranged for a letter to appear in a tennis magazine. Buxton told Gibson nothing about the letter, but Gibson figured it out when her mailbox started to bulge with envelopes full of checks from around the world. Eventually nearly $1 million came in.[1]

After suffering a devastating hand injury in late 1956 -- tenosynovitis, a chronic hand disorder -- Buxton was forced to retire following the 1957 season, at the age of 22.

Buxton, who is Jewish, won the women's singles title at the 1953 Maccabiah Games, easily defeating # 8 world seed Anita Kanter of the United States.

Buxton won the singles title again in 1957.

Buxton's Judaism played a role throughout her career. She is one of the six founders of the Israel Tennis Centres.

Her religious background prevented full acceptance within the tennis world from an early age. When Buxton and her mother moved to London to develop Angela's potential, she enrolled in a school in Hampstead whose headmistress introduced Buxton to the Cumberland Club. It was at Cumberland that Angela first ran into blatant -- and painful -- anti-Semitism.

"I had to fill in a form: name, address, telephone number and then religion. I had several lessons there with a guy called Bill Blake and I kept asking him about membership. Eventually he turned round to me and said, 'Look, Angela, please don't keep asking me, you're not going to be able to join the club.' I said, 'Why not? I'm not good enough?' 'No, because you're Jewish.' And that was the beginning. It was the first time it (prejudice) had hit me in this country."

In 1952, Angela and her mother traveled to the United States to continue her tennis development. Once again, Buxton ran into anti-Semitism, this time at the Los Angeles Tennis Club.

She said, "the same thing happened as at the Cumberland. They told me I couldn't play because I was Jewish." Instead, she was forced to train across town at public courts, but this allowed her to practice under the watchful eye of the great Bill Tilden for six months.^[1][2]

Buxton said that because of anti-Semitism during her childhood, even after her Wimbledon victory with Gibson she was not invited to join the exclusive All England Lawn Tennis Club.^[3]

In 2004, reflecting on the fact that the All England Club, almost 50 years after her Wimbledon triumph, had still not invited her to join, she remarked ""I think the anti-Semitism is still there. The mere fact that I'm not a member is a full sentence that speaks for itself." Buxton told New York Post reporter Marc Berman that she had been on the "waiting list" since the 1950s, noting that her championship doubles partner Althea Gibson -- winner of five Grand Slam singles titles -- would be on the same "waiting list" if Gibson were still alive (she died in September 2003). "I wish it still wasn't such an elite sport," Angela told Berman. "I wish we could bring it down to a common baseline. It's going that way. It's still not there."^[4]

Since she retired from playing tennis Buxton has written tennis books, including "Tackle Tennis This Way," "Starting Tennis," and "Winning Tennis and Doubles Tactics."

Buxton was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1981.^[5]

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1956	Wimbledon	Shirley Fry Irvin	6-3, 6-1

Tournament	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	Career SR
Australian Championships	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0
French Championships	A	A	QF	3R	SF	0 / 3
Wimbledon	1R	4R	4R	QF	F	0 / 5
U.S. Championships	A	A	A	3R	A	0 / 1
SR	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 9

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

• Buxton maintained her friendship with Gibson (who passed away in 2003) through the years, and helped promote the Althea Gibson Foundation.

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

• Jews in Sports bio
• Jewish Sports bio
• "Recalling a tennis pioneer: Angela Buxton pays a visit," 9/3/06

[fr:Angela Buxton]]