Tasmania’s Helen Gourlay reached two Grand Slam singles finals – at Roland Garros in 1971 and the December edition of the Australian Open in 1977; it took her legendary fellow Aussie Evonne Goolagong to stop her on both occasions. She also won five doubles majors, including the Australian Open four times. Twice with Goolagong and once apiece with Kerry Harris and Diane Fromholtz. Ranked as high as No.2 in Australia against impressive competition, Gourlay was considered the World No.12 at the end of the first full season of the Virginia Slims Circuit in 1971. 

 How did you get started in tennis?

HG: At 2 years of age, I hit my first ball over the net and loved it. My mum was a social player who always took me to tennis with her. She said I was always hitting the ball against the wall and wanting her to hit to me. When I was little, I also spent a lot of time in the garden with my dad. Before the days of TV, he would have the wireless going and whilst gardening we would be listening to the Davis Cup, or any major tournaments. I came to know all the top players’ names and my dream was always to play at Wimbledon.

Helen Gourlay

Portrait of Helen Gourlay taken in 1967, early in her career.

Getty Images

When did tennis become more serious for you?

HG: My parents always supported me, but growing up in Tasmania there was very limited coaching available, so when I was 15 they allowed me to leave our family home in Tasmania and give up things like my piano lessons to move to Sydney, alone, for coaching and training. I was also a nanny to six children! After three years in Sydney, I had saved enough money for my first overseas tour and was the top junior in the country.

Did you have tennis heroes who inspired you?

HG: I met Roy Emerson when I had just turned 13 at my first Australian Open. It was being played in Brisbane, and on the middle Sunday all the players piled into cars and went to Surfers Paradise for the day, for a picnic. I went in Roy’s car along with his wife, Joy. Emo sang the whole way – will never forget it!

After that tournament, I was selected in the National Coaching Squad that included all our Davis Cup players and top women, coached by Harry Hopman. The work ethic that Hopman installed into us was superb. This became an annual event for me, and Emo seemed to take me under his wing. When I started traveling overseas, I was by myself, so every tournament Emo and I were at, after tennis he would take me training. I was a good athlete and loved the hard work. Emo really taught me how to train – and looking back, over my career I am very proud to say that I never lost a match through lack of fitness or speed. That was something I was in control of.

Is there a particular piece of advice that really stuck in your mind?

HG: Lesley Turner Bowrey also had a great influence on me when I started travelling. She knew I liked to work hard and I would spend hours on the clay courts in Rome and Paris with her. She once said to me: “If you don’t give 100 percent in your matches, then all your hard work and training off the court has been wasted.” Probably the best advice I was ever given, and I have always passed this onto the players I coach.

Helen Gourlay

Evonne Goolagong (left), Lesley Turner Bowrey (centre) and Helen Gourlay (right) pictured in Ted Tinling designs London in 1971. The original caption says Gourlay wears “a twill dress of 'Dacron' polyester cotton with ribbon slit skirt embroidered with sprays of lilac and teamed with 'koolpants'.”

Getty Images

What was it like, making the transition to international competition in the 1960s?

HG: In 1967, after my second year on the tour, I returned home and was really struggling with life on the tour. There was very little money, and many a night I had to sleep in train stations or airports to save accommodation. Most of the little hotels and pensions I stayed in were brothels. We could make money by umpiring on the French Riviera circuit – when I wasn’t on court I would be up in the umpire’s chair and be paid 5 Francs, which was about one US dollar. When I returned home, I played the Aussie circuit and then decided to have a break. For three months I didn’t pick up a racquet but went out training with an athletics squad, as I loved running. The coach used me as a pacer for his sprinters! After three months, the coach started training me by myself and then one day told me to pick up my racquet. I realized then how much I loved tennis and have never put the racquet down since!

The press kit for the Virginia Slims Circuit in 1975 describes you as the “hardest trier.” Does that ring true? What do you consider your strengths as a player?

HG: I would totally agree that I was the hardest trier. I never gave up. My other strengths as a player were my slice backhand, moving forward, mid-court and net game, speed around the court. I would love to be starting off again on the circuit with the knowledge I have!

What are your memories of the early days of the Virginia Slims Circuit?

HG: I was so grateful that I was in the Top 16 and accepted into the events. It felt very special to be included with the best players and I was very proud to be one of the VS girls. We had to do so much PR work to help promote it all and local people were very accommodating and supportive. We players supported each other and there was a strong bond to see the circuit succeed. I was away from Australia for at least 10 months of the year, so I always requested to be billeted, as I really missed my family life back home. I stayed with some amazing families and had many homes away from home. Even today, I am still in touch with many of these friends.

You were one of the players chosen by Virginia Slims to wear tennis dresses created by the great British designer Ted Tinling. What was that like?

HG: As many of our tournaments were played indoors in large arenas, with night matches as well, Ted designed dresses that were appropriate for us as entertainers. I still have a ‘Tassie apple’ dress – coming from the Apple Isle, as Tasmania is known – and I even have one with little mirrors all over it to reflect the lighting.

Who was your toughest opponent?

HG: In singles it was probably Chris Evert, as she never missed, and seemed never to have an off-day.

Most memorable triumph?

HG: It would have to be winning the doubles at Wimbledon in 1977 with Joanne Russell, beating top seeds Martina Navratilova and Betty Stöve in the final. Joanne and I had never met before we introduced ourselves on Court 2 for our match against Chrissie and Rosie Casals, who were the No.2 seeds. We even tossed a coin to see who played which side! We won that first match in straight sets and over the next two weeks we worked together like you would not believe. To win at Wimbledon had always been my dream. I realized I didn’t have the special talent to win the singles, but I thank God for my doubles title. We were always treated with the greatest respect, like royalty, and made to feel so special. Wimbledon was also the one occasion for the year that I was able to phone home and talk to my family for three minutes. 

 You were great friends with Karen Krantzcke, who passed away suddenly at a tournament in Tallahassee, Florida. What do you remember of that time?

HG: It was Easter Sunday, 1977. Karen and I were best mates, and had come off court after playing on opposite teams in the doubles final. Karen went for a run, I went out to practice, but a little while later she was found collapsed against the club gates. The ambulance was called but Karen didn’t respond. I went to the hospital with her and stayed on in Tallahassee for a few days to make all the necessary arrangements to send her back to Sydney. Without doubt this was one of the saddest experiences of my life, but I will never forget ‘Kran’ and her love of Gilbert & Sullivan.

WTA Melbourne Reunion

Helen Gourlay pictured at far right along with other Australian luminaries at the WTA Legends & Friends reunion held in Melbourne in 2018.

Getty Images

 Who do you look up to, and why?

HG: I have always admired Martina Navratilova. I was at the US Open in 1975 when Martina defected from Czechoslovakia and I really felt for her. To see the way she progressed after that experience, taking women’s tennis to the next level with her professionalism, was just fantastic.

 What have you been up to since retiring from the Tour?

HG: My last tournament was Wimbledon in 1978, when I was pregnant with my daughter, Alysia. I returned to Tasmania, where I started coaching. In 1981, I was asked to go to Canberra to set up the tennis program at the Australian Institute of Sport. In 1996 the program was relocated to Melbourne, but I stayed in Canberra and set up the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Academy of Sport tennis program. I also became the State Coach of the ACT. In 2005, I resigned from everything, as I was nursing my mother who was very ill. I continued to do private coaching with our elite players and I still coach five days a week on the tennis court in my backyard, working mostly with adults and younger children.

Tennis has been my whole life and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to follow my dream and do something that I absolutely love. I still love every moment I am out on court!

Who do you like to watch among today’s players?

HG: Roger Federer is my favorite player… athletic elegance just flows out of him. One of his early coaches, Peter Carter, was one of the players in our tennis program at the AIS back in the 1980s – he was a lovely boy and I have no doubt he would have had a very positive influence on Roger and his career. Dominic Thiem’s passion and attitude are great, and I just love his backhand. Ash Barty is obviously a favorite, and I’m so looking forward to seeing the improvements in her game that she has been working on this past year. She’s a great girl and such a role model for younger players. And Simona Halep has always been great to watch for her athleticism and fighting ability. Darren Cahill was another player in our AIS tennis program, so it has been rewarding to see what he is contributing as a coach to top players like Simona.