Sports
Jane Bartkowicz
born 1949 · tennis player
Hamtramck-born Polish-American tennis star, a pupil of Jean Hoxie, who won the Wimbledon girls' title in 1964 and was one of the Original 9 who launched women's professional tennis in 1970.
- Born
Hamtramck, Michigan
age 77- Birth name
- Jane Marie Bartkowicz
- Also known as
- Peaches Bartkowicz
- Detroit years
- 1949–1960s
- Field
- Sports
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Bartkowicz grew up in Hamtramck, the Polish-American city inside Detroit, and learned the game in the famous youth program of Jean and Jerry Hoxie, which turned the children of autoworkers into champions. Nicknamed Peaches, she piled up 17 national junior titles and in 1964 won the girls' singles at Wimbledon. She was one of the first women to hit a two-handed backhand at the top level. As a senior player she reached the US Open quarterfinals in 1968 and 1969 and went unbeaten in singles, 7–0, as the United States won the 1969 Federation Cup. In 1970 she was one of the Original 9, the players who signed one-dollar contracts with Gladys Heldman to start the Virginia Slims circuit, the birth of the women's pro tour. She won 20 career titles, the last in Sweden in 1970. She is in the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.
Highlights
- Wimbledon girls' singles champion, 1964
- 17 US junior titles, coached by Jean Hoxie in Hamtramck
- Federation Cup winner in 1969 with a 7–0 singles record
- One of the Original 9 who founded the women's pro tour in 1970
- Michigan Sports Hall of Fame (2002)