Dorothy Edith Round (13 July 1909 – 12 November 1982), was a British tennis player who was active from the late 1920s until 1950. She achieved her major successes in the 1930s. She won the singles title at Wimbledon in 1934 and 1937, and the singles at the Australian Championships in 1935. She also had success as a mixed doubles player at Wimbledon, winning a total of three titles. After her wedding in 1937, she played under her married name, Mrs D.L. Little. During the Second World War, she played in North America and became a professional coach in Canada and the United States. Post-war, she played in British regional tournaments, coached, and wrote on tennis for newspapers.
Early life
Dorothy Round was born on 13 July 1909 in Dudley, Worcestershire, England, the youngest of four children. She was the child of John Benjamin Round, a building contractor, and Maude Helena. Her family home in Park Road, Dudley, included a hard tennis court laid down by her grandfather. She was brought up as a Methodist, and her religion remained important to her throughout her life. According to an interview she gave in later life, she played tennis with her brothers at the court in the garden of the family home from an early age and entered a school tennis competition aged 10 or 11. Round attended the Dudley Girls High School.
Career
Early career
Round entered her first tennis tournament when she was 16 when she appeared at a competition held at Pwllheli in Wales. In September 1925, Round entered the junior Worcestershire]championships, and on 7 September 1925 she won the title, defeating Miss Lily Darby of Smethwick in straight sets. She retained the Worcestershire singles junior title the following year and added the doubles title at the same tournament. In September 1926, Round competed in the Junior Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, where she reached the semifinals. In June 1927, Round won three titles at the Worcestershire County Lawn Tennis Tournament, becoming the singles, doubles and mixed doubles champion.
First appearances at Wimbledon and other major tournaments
Round entered her first Wimbledon Championships in 1928 after coming through the qualifying event, and she was knocked out in the first round by Miss N. Trentham, 6–2, 6–8, 8–6. The following year, she suffered from nerves as she was defeated by Betty Nuthall in the second round. Later in 1929, her picture featured in the "Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News" where she was billed as "a rising player". Round put in some impressive performances at the Wightman Cup trials held at Wimbledon in April 1930, defeating a number of established British players. In the same month, "Bunny" Austin one of the top British male players, called Round "a bright new star".
In 1930 she made her first tennis trip abroad, to the French Championships where she entered the doubles event, partnered with Mrs. Holcroft Watson and the mixed doubles event, partnered with Mr H.G.N. Lee. Her participation in the tournament resulted in a number of newspapers commenting on the possible difficulties caused by Round's refusal to play on Sunday because of her religious principles and the fact that the finals of the French Championships were played on that day. She reached the semifinals of the doubles, where the English pair were beaten by the French pair Mathieu and Barbier, 7–5, 7–5. She also reached the third round of the mixed doubles. In this year, it was reported that she was being coached by Dan Maskell.
At the 1931 Wimbledon Championships, she reached the quarterfinal stage for the first time after defeating fifth-seeded Lili Álvarez in the third round, and she was rewarded with a spot on the British team for the Wightman Cup, the annual women's team tennis competition between Great Britain and the United States, which in 1931 was held in August at Forest Hills. She lost her singles match against Anna Harper in three sets after failing to convert any of her seven matchpoints. Later in the same month, Round reached the doubles final of the U.S. National Championships at Forest Hill, where she was partnered with Helen Jacobs. The pair lost to Miss Betty Nuthall and Mrs. Fearnley Whittingstall, 6–2, 6–4. In a newspaper article from 1935, Round stated that it was her Wightman Cup loss that prompted her have more tournament play and she increased the number of tournaments that she played in to around 12 per season.
In 1932, she again reached the Wimbledon singles quarterfinal, losing to first-seeded and three-time Wimbledon champion Helen Wills Moody, 6–0, 6–1.
She declined to compete in the French Championships in 1933 because she did not want to play on a Sunday because of her religious convictions.