{{Short description|British tennis player}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox tennis biography |name = Nell Truman |image = |fullname = Frances Ellen Truman Robinson |itf_name = |country = {{GBR}} |residence = |birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1945|12|12}} |birth_place = Loughton, England |death_date = {{death date and age|2012|4|8|1945|12|12|df=y}} |death_place = Cambridge, England |height = |college = |turnedpro = |retired = 1972 |plays = Right–handed |careerprizemoney = |tennishofyear = |tennishofid = |website = |singlesrecord = |singlestitles = |highestsinglesranking = |currentsinglesranking = |AustralianOpenresult = |FrenchOpenresult = 1R (1972) |Wimbledonresult = 4R (1969) |USOpenresult = 2R (1970, 1971) |Othertournaments = <!-- adds a "Major tournaments" title --> |MastersCupresult = |WTAChampionshipsresult = |Olympicsresult = |doublesrecord = |doublestitles = |highestdoublesranking = |currentdoublesranking = |grandslamsdoublesresults = |AustralianOpenDoublesresult = |FrenchOpenDoublesresult = F (1972) |WimbledonDoublesresult = QF (1965, 1969, 1970) |USOpenDoublesresult = |OthertournamentsDoubles = <!-- adds a "Major doubles tournaments" title --> |MastersCupDoublesresult = |WTAChampionshipsDoublesresult = |OlympicsDoublesresult = |Mixed = <!-- adds mixed information--> |mixedrecord = |mixedtitles = |AustralianOpenMixedresult = |FrenchOpenMixedresult = |WimbledonMixedresult = QF (1970) |USOpenMixedresult = |Team = yes |WightmanCupresult = '''W''' (1968) | medaltemplates-expand = yes | medaltemplates = {{MedalCountry | {{GBR2}} }} {{MedalSport|Women's Tennis}} {{medalCompetition|Summer Universiade}} {{MedalGold|1967 Tokyo|Women's Singles}} {{Medal | Bronze | 1967 Tokyo | Women's Doubles }} }} '''Frances Ellen 'Nell' Truman Robinson''' (12 December 1945 – 8 April 2012),<ref name="guardian" /> was a female tennis player from the United Kingdom active in the 1960s and early 1970s. She was mainly known for her performance as a doubles player.
==Career== Nell Truman was born on 12 December 1945 in Loughton, England, the youngest child of Stanley, a chartered accountant, and Aimee Truman, as well as the sister of tennis player Christine Truman. She attended Queen Anne's School in Caversham, Berkshire, and went on to read geography at St Anne's College, Oxford, where she was awarded blues in tennis and squash.<ref name=guardian>{{cite news|title=Nell Truman obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/apr/17/nell-truman|newspaper=The Guardian|date=17 April 2012|author=Richard Evans}}</ref> She won a gold medal in the singles event at the 1967 World Student Games in Tokyo.
Her best performance at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the final of the doubles event at the 1972 French Open. Partnering compatriot Winnie Shaw, they lost the final in straight sets to Billie Jean King and Betty Stöve. Her best Grand Slam singles performance was reaching the fourth round of the 1969 Wimbledon Championships, in which she lost to Judy Tegart.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wimbledon – Players archive – Nell Truman|url=https://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/draws/archive/players/51c085ba-56ff-444a-8422-7177b30a95c3/index.html|publisher=AELTC}}</ref>
Between 1965 and 1972, Truman played in five Wightman Cups, a team tennis competition for women between the United States and Great Britain. During the 1968 Wightman Cup, the match was tied at three all, and Nell partnered with her sister Christine in the deciding rubber. The sisters won the match, and Nell hit the winning shot to give the British team victory, their first triumph over the U.S. team since 1960.<ref name=telegraph>{{cite news|title=Nell Robinson|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9200812/Nell-Robinson.html|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=12 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Pro Tennis Bids Cost U.S. As Britain Captures Cup|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rMZdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=W14NAAAAIBAJ&pg=2954%2C6439583|newspaper=Observer-Reporter|date=17 June 1968}}</ref>
In February 1968, she won the singles title at the French Covered Courts Championships in Paris.<ref name=wot1969>{{cite book|title=BP Yearbook of World Tennis|year=1969|publisher=Ward Lock|location=London|isbn=978-0706318241|oclc=502175694|editor=John Barrett|editor-link=John Barrett (tennis)|page=159}}</ref> At the Alexandria Championships in Egypt, played in March 1968, she defeated Olga Morozova in the final to win the singles title.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Lawn Tennis|date=May 1969|page=18|publisher=British Lawn Tennis Ltd|location=Halesworth}}</ref>
In April 1968, she and her sister became the first winners of an open tennis event by winning the women's doubles title at the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth.<ref name=robertson>{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Tennis|year=1974|publisher=Allen & Unwin|location=London|isbn=0047960426|pages=210, 211|editor=Max Robertson}}</ref> In February 1971, she won the singles title at the German Indoor Tennis Championships in Bremen, defeating Heide Orth in the final in straight sets.<ref name=wot1972>{{cite book|title=World of Tennis '72|year=1972|publisher=Queen Anne Press|location=London|isbn=9780362001037|oclc=86035663|page=308|editor=John Barrett}}</ref> In 1972, she joined the Virginia Slims tennis circuit.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nell Truman: Tennis player who defied the US to win the Wightman Cup|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/nell-truman-tennis-player-who-defied-the-us-to-win-the-wightman-cup-7658060.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/nell-truman-tennis-player-who-defied-the-us-to-win-the-wightman-cup-7658060.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The Independent|date=19 April 2012|author=Paul Newman}}</ref>
She married Christopher Robinson, a London solicitor, on 7 October 1972 with whom she had a son and three daughters. Nell Truman died in Cambridge on 8 April 2012 as a result of a stroke.<ref name=telegraph/>
==Grand Slam finals==
===Doubles (1 runner-up)===
{|class="sortable wikitable" !style="width:40px"|Result !style="width:40px"|Year !style="width:140px"|Championship !style="width:50px"|Surface !style="width:160px"|Partner !style="width:160px"|Opponents !style="width:110px" class="unsortable"|Score |-style="background:#ebc2af;" | style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss || 1972 || French Open || Clay|| {{flagicon|GBR}} Winnie Shaw || {{flagicon|USA}} Billie Jean King <br> {{flagicon|NED}} Betty Stöve || 1–6, 2–6 |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{ITF}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Truman, Christine}} Category:1945 births Category:2012 deaths Category:English female tennis players Category:British female tennis players Category:People educated at Queen Anne's School Category:Sportspeople from Loughton Category:Tennis players from Essex Category:Summer World University Games medalists in tennis Category:FISU World University Games gold medalists for Great Britain Category:FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Great Britain Category:Medalists at the 1967 Summer Universiade Category:20th-century English sportswomen