Gracyn Wheeler Kelleher

Who is Gracyn Wheeler Kelleher?

Gracyn Wheeler Kelleher of California was an amateur tennis player in the 1920s through the 1940s.

Wheeler played for the U.S. Wightman Cup team and was ranked as high as No. 4 in the United States during her career.

At the event in Cincinnati, Wheeler won the singles title in 1934 and was a singles finalist in 1940. At the Canadian National tournament, she won the singles title in 1933.

She also paired with Helen Bernard to reach the finals of the 1940 National Clay Court Doubles Championship, before losing to Alice Marble and Mary Arnold, at a final played in Cincinnati.

She won the Oregon state singles and doubles titles in 1932 and the singles title in 1933. She also was a quarterfinalist at the 1936 U.S. Nationals, and won the U.S. Girls 18s doubles title in 1932.

In 1929 at the Carlton Winter championships in Cannes, France, Wheeler was seeded No. 1, ahead of a French player, future International Tennis Hall of Fame enshrinee Simone Mathieu. According to the February 9, 1939, edition of the Oakland Tribune, Mathieu protested, telling officials "Am I not the greatest player in all of France? If I am not seeded No. 1, I will quit the tournament." Wheeler quickly gave up the No. 1 seed in deference to Mathieu, and took her place as the No. 2 seed.