Annalisa Bossi
Alias: Anneliese Ullstein Bossi Bellani
Annalisa Bellani
Annalouise Ullstein
| Born |
Subscribe now
This information and data is not available because you are not our subscriber yet.
Please click here and get full access to the entire database! |
|---|---|
| Died | |
| Height | |
| Plays | |
| Bio | She was an Italian player. She was a German naturalized Italian tennis player, winner of the 1950 Internationals of Italy and semi-finalist at the 1949 French Open. Before Francesca Schiavone, who succeeded in the feat in 2010, she was one of only three Italian tennis players to have reached a semifinal in a Grand Slam tournament, succeeding in 1949, at the French Internationals; before her Maud Levi Rosenbaum (U.S. National Championships 1930) and, subsequently, Silvana Lazzarino (France Internationals 1954). Her name is mentioned again by the Italian newspapers, even the year following the 2011 French Open, when the Italian tennis players Fabio Fognini and Francesca Schiavone simultaneously accessed the quarter-finals, men's and women's, of a grand slam tournament, repeating the simultaneous feat achieved, again in Paris in 1949, by the Italian tennis players Giovanni Cucelli and, indeed, Annalisa Bossi. During her career, before Flavia Pennetta she was twice in the top 10 (at the time written by the British journalist Lance Tingay), at No.8 in 1949 and at No.9 in 1950. Anneliese Ullstein began playing tennis at the age of ten, in the VIB Leipzig club, coached by Kurt Nitsche. In 1932 and 1933 she won the German junior championships. She then moved to the RC-Sports Club in Leipzig, she is then coached by Alfred Förster [6]. Initially, she achieves the best results in singles: in 1934 she wins the tournaments in Chemnitz, Leipzig, Dresden and the Weiser Hirsch Club; two years after her the Pomeranian championships and the international tournament in Bad Homburg. In 1937 she won the German national championships, the Düsseldorf tournament and the Hungarian internationals in Budapest; she lost in the final in Dresden and Berlin (here to the champion Hilde Sperling) and, in 1939, she regained the national title and won the international tournament in Wiesbaden. In the same year, she made her debut at the Wimbledon Championships, where she lost in the round of 32, in singles, and in doubles, in the first round. A lover of Italy, Ullstein goes on holiday to Merano every year, home to an important national tennis club. She wins the local international tournament in 1938 and 1939. The following year, she wins again in Leipzig, she wins the international tournament in Palermo and loses the Sanremo tournament in the final; she met the Milanese tennis player Renato Bossi and, in 1940, she married him, acquiring Italian citizenship. In 1941, by that time Annalisa Bossi, she won the absolute Italian championships for the first time, both in the singles (6-3, 6-2 victory over Ida Quintavalla) and in the doubles; she won the Merano tournament for the third time. The following year, she repeated herself at the "absolutes", both in singles and in doubles. After the war period, Ullstein-Bossi returns to success in the Italian championships, in singles and mixed doubles, paired with her husband Renato. The year 1947, although marred by the premature loss of her spouse, was not stingy with successes for Annalisa Bossi. She won the international tournament in Alexandria in Egypt, beating the French Suzanne Pannetier in three sets and reaches the doubles final; she was admitted as the No. 1 seed. 15 at Roland Garros (no Italian, before then, had obtained this recognition) where she reached the round of 16, defeated by the American champion Doris Hart. She also reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon, where she lost in straight sets to Margaret Osborne, who won the tournament. She was the absolute Italian singles champion, for the fourth time. In 1948, she won the Riviera tournament in Sanremo, defeating 6-0, 6-3 Nicla Migliori and the tournament in Nice. At Roland Garros she was the no. 7 and reached the quarterfinals. At Wimbledon she was eliminated in the first round in singles and in the second round in doubles, paired with the Argentine Maria Weiss. In September, in Montreux, she won the Internationals of French-speaking Switzerland, beating the Austrian Etta Neumann and then she conquered her fifth overall title, again against her Nicla Migliori. 1949 was perhaps her best year: she was a finalist in the international tournament in Cairo, both in singles and in mixed doubles, paired with Cucelli. She won the Monte Carlo tournament, beating the French Anne-Marie Seghers 6-2, 6-3, with whom she also reached the final in the doubles. She also won the tournament in Istanbul (over Lucia Manfredi, 6-1, 8-6), Ankara and Athens (over the British Joan Curry 7-5 6-8 6-3). At Roland Garros she is the no. 7 and she reached the semifinals, where she lost to French Nelly Landry, later winner of the tournament. At Wimbledon she did not go beyond the first round, both in singles and in doubles but, in the "absolute" she is the Italian singles champion for the sixth time (victory over Nicla Migliori in three sets). In 1950 she was a finalist in both the tournament in Cairo and in Alexandria in Egypt. She won the Internationals of Italy, beating the British Joan Curry again in the final 6-4, 6-4, at the Foro Italico. Before then, only Lucia Valerio had succeeded among the Italians and, in 1985, Raffaella Reggi would repeat the success, but on the fields of Taranto. For statistics, paired with Giovanni Cucelli, she also won the mixed doubles tournament, ex aequo with Gussie Moran and Adrian Quist, the final match having been suspended on the result of 6-3, 1-1 for the opponents. At Roland Garros she was seeded no. 6 and she reaches the quarterfinals, where she succumbs in straight sets again to the American Doris Hart, who will win the tournament. At Wimbledon she was assigned the top seed. 8, an event, also in this case, unprecedented, for an Italian tennis player and it will be necessary to wait for 1987 for another blue to be admitted among the top 16 of the scoreboard (again Raffaella Reggi, at n. 15). The field, however, demonstrates Annalisa Bossi's idiosyncrasy for her grassy surfaces, being eliminated in the first round in the singles and in the round of 32 in the doubles. She played for the only time the U.S. National Championships, not going beyond the round of 32 in singles. Annalisa Ullstein married a second time with the sports journalist Giorgio Bellani and essentially abandons competitive tennis. She still made sporadic appearances, like her at the 1951 Internazionali d'Italia where, despite being the defending champion, she was eliminated in the first round by Patricia Ward. At the 1951 and 1952 Sanremo tournament, she reached the final both times, losing to Doris Hart and Joan Curry respectively. In 1954 she was the absolute doubles champion, paired with Nicla Migliori and the following year she was still a finalist, in doubles, at the Sanremo tournament. At the 1955 Internationals of Italy she was eliminated in the first round, in the singles and in the quarterfinals in the doubles, paired with Nicla Migliori. In 1956, when she was forty, she resumed full activity, perhaps encouraged by the fact that, in the meantime, her husband Giorgio had become the official commentator of the RAI for tennis events. She found an environment dominated by the younger Lea Pericoli and Silvana Lazzarino. She was double partner of both. She was eliminated by Angela Buxton in the second round of the 1956 Internazionali d'Italia. She was seeded again (No. 13) at Roland Garros, where she lost in the round of 16 to German Edda Buding, in three sets. Unfortunate was her appearance in doubles, paired with Nicla Migliori (defeated in the first round). She won the fourth Italian doubles title, paired with Lea Pericoli. 1957 began in a big way, winning the Menton tournament and, for the second time, that of Monte Carlo, destroying the Mexican tennis player Yola Ramírez – one of the strongest in the world – 6-2 6-1 in the final. She was in the final of the Viareggio tournament. She still reached the round of 16, in singles, at Roland Garros, where she was seeded No.8 and, in doubles, paired with Silvana Lazzarino, she surprisingly reached the semifinals, where the two blues are defeated by the Mexicans Yola Ramirez and Rosie Reyes, winners of the tournament the following year. At the "absolutes", she changed doubles partner (she returns with Lea Pericoli) and wins yet another Italian specialty title. In doubles with Lea Pericoli, Annalisa Bellani won her last Italian title (the thirteenth), in 1958. At the Foro Italico, in 1960, she reached the round of 16, losing to South African Sandra Reynolds in two tight sets. At Roland Garros, in 1960, she was eliminated in the first round. She was forty-six years old, she still stood out at the 1961 Internationals of Italy where she lost only in front of a champion like Lesley Turner. |
| Misc | Subscribe now |
| Tournament | AO | RG | W | US | Win-Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Subscribe now
This information and data is not available because you are not our subscriber yet.
Please click here and get full access to the entire database! |
|||||