Nirupama Mankad

Nirupama Mankad

Country (sports)	India
Born	(1947-01-17) 17 January 1947 (age 77) Karachi, Sindh, British India
Turned pro	1964 (amateur)
Retired	1979
Singles
Career titles	18 ILTF/ITF
Doubles
Career titles	11 ITF
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon	2R (1971)

Nirupama Mankad (née Vasant; born 17 January 1947) is a former Indian tennis player. She is the first Indian woman in the modern era to play at a main draw of a Grand Slam. She was active from 1964 to 1979 and constested 25 finals and won 18 singles titles.She was one of the torch runners in the most famous spirit of freedom video that played on Indian television in the 1980’s.

Career

Nirupama Mankad is the daughter of G. Vasant, a leading tennis player in India in his time. She survives her husband, the late Ashok Mankad, a former Indian Test cricketer. Their son Harsh Mankad is an Indian Davis Cup player.[1]

Mankad won the Asian women's tennis championship in 1965 at the age of 17. She played Wimbledon junior event in 1965 and partnered Anand Amritraj in the mixed doubles event in 1971, reaching the second round. She took part in tournaments on ILTF European Circuit when she played in Europe such as reaching the semi finals at the Ilkley Open in 1970 where she lost to Corinne Molesworth who went on to win that event.[2] She was India's top ranked tennis player between 1965 and 1978, winning the national championship seven times during this time. She won the Indian government's Arjuna award in 1980.

Her best ranking was No 1, and was also a two-time Asian champion and a Fed Cup player.[3]

ILTF Career finals

Singles:25 (18 titles, 7 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Location	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	January 1965	Asian Lawn Tennis Championships	Calcutta, India	Hard	Lakshmi Mahadevan	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	January 1965	National Lawn Tennis Championships of India	New Delhi, India	Hard	Marion Law	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	2.	January 1966	Central India Championships	Allahabad, India	Grass	Tiiu Kivi	9–11, 2–6
Runner-up	3.	January 1966	Western India Championships	Bombay, India	Hard	Carol-Ann Prosen	3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	January 1968	?	Bombay, India	Clay	Aleksandra Ivanova	3–6, 6–2, 4–6
Winner	2.	March 1968	Western India Championships (2)	Bombay, India	Hard	Rattan Thadani	6–2, 6–4
Winner	3.	December 1968	Asian Lawn Tennis Championships (2)	Calcutta, India	Hard	Alice Tym	6–1, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	4.	February 1969	Western India Championships (3)	Bombay, India	Hard	Judith Dibar	8–6, 6–3
Winner	5.	December 1969	Indian International Championships	New Delhi, India	Hard	Alice Tym	6–1, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	6.	February 1970	Western India Championships (4)	Bombay, India	Hard	Irena Škulj	3–6, 6–0, 6–3
Winner	7.	December 1970	Cricket Club of India Tournament	Bombay, India	Hard	Kiran Peshawaria	6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	5.	January 1971	Andhra Pradesh State Championships	Amaravati, India	Hard	Tiiu Kivi	2–6, 5-7
Winner	8.	January 1971	National Lawn Tennis Championships of India	New Delhi, India	?	Kiran Peshawaria	4–6, 6–1, 6–1
Winner	9.	March 1971	Kenyan International Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	Clay	Jenny Paterson	6–0, 6–0
Winner	10.	February 1972	Western India Championships (5)	Poona, India	Hard	Marilyn Tesch	4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	February 1974	Western India Championships	Madras, India	Hard	Susan Das	4–6, 2–6
Winner	11.	January 1975	National Lawn Tennis Championships of India (2)	New Delhi, India	Hard	Susan Das	7–5, 6–4
Winner	12.	February 1975	Western India Championships (6)	Bombay, India	Hard	Udaya Kumar	6–1, 6–1
Winner	13.	January 1976	National Lawn Tennis Championships of India (3)	New Delhi, India	Hard	Susan Das	6–4, 6–3
Winner	14.	February 1976	Western India Championships (7)	Bombay, India	Hard	Lakshmi Mahedevan	6–1, 6–0
Winner	15.	February 1977	National Lawn Tennis Championships of India (4)	Bombay, India	Hard	Susan Das	6–4, 6–3
Winner	16.	February 1977	Western India Championships (8)	Bombay, India	Hard	Amreeta Ahluwalia	6–4, 6–0
Runner-up	7.	January 1978	Southern India Championships	Madras, India	Hard	Amreeta Ahluwalia	5–7, 6–4, 8–6
Winner	17.	February 1978	National Lawn Tennis Championships of India (5)	Calcutta, India	Hard	Amreeta Ahluwalia	3–6, 6–1, 8–6
Winner	18.	January 1979	Western India Championships (9)	Bombay, India	Hard	Amreeta Ahluwalia	6–3, 6–2

Doubles:19 (11 titles, 8 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	March 1964	Jaipur, India	Hard	Lakshmi Mahadevan	Begum Khan Jill Rook	0–6, 1-6
Runner-up	2.	January 1965	Kolkata, India	Hard	Leela Panjabi	Begum Khan Rita Suriya	2–6, 4-6
Runner-up	3.	January 1965	New Delhi, India	Hard	Leela Panjabi	Marion Law Madonna Schacht	6–2, 3–6, 3-6
Winner	4.	January 1966	Thiruvananthapuram, India	Hard	Carol-Ann Prosen	Rita Bentley Elizabeth Starkie	6–2, 6–4
Winner	5.	January 1966	Mumbai, India	Hard	Begum Khan	Carol-Ann Prosen Sue Tutt	6–2, 1–6, 6–4
Winner	6.	February 1966	Hyderabad, India	Hard	Sue Tutt	Begum Khan Carol-Ann Prosen	6–1, 6–4
Winner	7.	February 1966	Chennai, India	Hard	Dechu Appaiah	Begum Khan Leela Panjabi	6–2, 6–3
Winner	8.	February 1966	Lucknow, India	Hard	Dechu Appaiah	Rita Bentley Anthea Rigby	9–11, 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	9.	January 1967	Calcuta, India	Hard	Rita Suriya	Rena Abzhandadze Aleksandra Ivanova	0–6, 5–7
Runner-up	10.	January 1968	Bangalore, India	Hard	Jeroo Vakil	Aleksandra Ivanova Nina Turkheli	0–6, 1–6
Runner-up	11.	January 1968	Bombay, India	Hard	Rattan Thadani	Aleksandra Ivanova Nina Turkheli	2–6, 3–6
Winner	12.	January 1969	Visakhapatnam, India	Hard	Rita Suriya	Alice Tym Kiran Peshawaria	6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	13.	January 1970	Amritsar, India	Hard	Indu Sood	Aleksandra Ivanova Irena Škulj	2–6, 1–6
Winner	14.	February 1971	Kolkata, India	Hard	Kiran Peshawaria	Udaya Kumar Susan Das	6–1, 6–3
Winner	15.	March 1971	Nairobi, Kenya	Clay	Jenny Paterson	Marianna Brummer Greta Delport	6–2, 6–2
Winner	16.	September 1971	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Hard	Cecilie Fleming	Somsri Klumsombut Phanow Sudsawadsi	7–5, 6–4
Winner	17.	February 1974	Chennai, India	Hard	Udaya Kumar	Susan Das Kiran Peshawaria	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	18.	September 1974	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Hard	Susan Das	Lany Kaligis Lita Liem Sugiarto	5–7, 6–1, 1-6
Winner	19.	February 1978	New Delhi, India	Hard	Amreeta Ahluwalia	Carol Draper Robin Harris	5–7, 6–2, 6–0

References

1. "All eyes on Harsh Mankad". The Hindu. 5 June 2000. Retrieved 3 May 2018.^[dead link‍]
2. Barrett, John. Tingay, Lance. West, Peter. (1971) World of Tennis 1971 : a BP yearbook. Queen Anne Press. London. ISBN 978-0-362-00091-7. p.270.
3. "At 56, tennis coach Mayur Vasant finally dons India colours". mid-day. 18 June 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2018.

External links

• K. R. Wadhwaney, Arjuna Awardees, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 2002, ISBN 81-230-0286-0
• P.K. Datta, A Century of Indian Tennis, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 2001, ISBN 81-230-0783-3