'She’s going to inspire every single person coming into the club': Mural unveiled of Cork tennis legend 

While Wimbledon drew to a close on Sunday, Cobh had its own taste of the tournament just ahead of the weekend with the arrival of June Ann Byrne to Rushbrooke Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Originally from the Cobh area, June Ann (nee Fitzpatrick) graced the courts of Wimbledon as a 17-year-old girl fresh from her Leaving Cert exams. It was just one event in an extraordinary list of achievements in international tennis. Now in her late 80s, living in Dundrum and a member of Carrickmines Tennis Club, she was lured back to Rushbrooke under false pretences.

Thinking she was making an appearance to open the club’s new terrace, she was actually there to witness the unveiling of a mural in her honour. The club’s determination to keep it a secret was rewarded with her genuine surprise when she rounded the corner and saw the latest work from talented artist, Jack Hickey, who has a painting of Professor Marie Cassidy, former state pathologist, hanging in the National Gallery of Ireland. Working from a photograph, this latest mural – covering the club’s practice wall - features the teenage June Ann in action.

“I was overcome; I was gobsmacked. It’s so magnificent”, says June Ann, describing the moment of the big reveal. “I thought I was going to walk out of the mural, it’s so alive.”

The idea for the mural came about just after Covid struck last year and the club sent out a text to clarify that the wall – known as ‘the bash wall’ – was closed. Within an hour Sally Donegan, the club’s chairperson, received a call from June Ann objecting to the term ‘bash wall’, instead calling it a ‘practice development wall’ and outlining how important it was in preparing for her career.

A career spanning 75 years 

Having received her first tennis racket aged 13, June Ann’s tennis career has spanned over 75 years, starting with Irish victories at U15 level in 1946 and U18 in 1947 and 1948. In the following two years the Irish senior ladies championships were hers and in May 1951 she won the Festival of Britain tennis championship.

She made her debut trip to Junior Wimbledon in 1951 competing in the girls’ singles competition and with the exception of 1955, June Ann returned every year until 1960.

She also captured four Fitzwilliam Cup titles and made it to the mixed doubles semi-finals of Roland Garros in 1958, where she played on centre court.

And those are just some of her glittering moments. She has played all over Europe, Australia, New Zealand, America and even in Russia. 

During her three years in America she worked as a teacher (and also qualified as an occupational therapist) but grabbed - and often won - every tennis opportunity that came her way.

“When I first arrived in America I was on television – and I’d never seen television”, exclaims June Ann. On that occasion the 21-year-old was playing the New York champion at Fordham University and won 6-4, 6-2.

She has met presidents and royalty and rubbed shoulders with famous tennis players but her early days were simpler.

Cobh connections 

Born on Haulbowline, where her father John was an engineer for the Board of Works, the family moved to Dublin when his work relocated there. June Ann kept up her Cobh connections though, staying with her grandmother on Westbourne Place on school holidays.

“The war was just over and you couldn’t get any tennis balls because there was no rubber.

"You couldn’t get any shoes”, she explains, setting the scene. When she did get her hands on a pair of precious tennis shoes she went to great lengths to preserve them. She’d get dressed at Westbourne and walk out to Rushbrooke in her bare feet, only donning her shoes and socks when she arrived.

“It was so they wouldn’t get worn out”, she explains.

None of June Ann’s friends played tennis so she followed her own path. In the winters of her youth, she’d switch to hockey, playing “in rain, hail or snow”, as there were no winter tennis courts at the time. She even played on the boy’s hurling team aged 10 because there was no girls’ team.

While she was allowed to pursue tennis as long as she did her homework and passed her exams, she in turn issued a condition to her parents.

“I made my Mum and Dad promise me when I was about 15 that they would never come and watch me - and they never did. If you watch a child playing and watch the face of parents you’ll see that if the child misses a ball the parents get all agitated, then the child looks at them and it transfers the message across.

"It’s not nice”, she says.

History would repeat itself when she became a parent.

“I have four lovely children and a fifth that grew up with us. They all played sport; tennis, hockey, badminton, one grandchild was a great runner. And I never went to watch them. It’s too stressful to watch.”

No plans to hang up racket 

Family members were alongside her at Rushbrooke on Thursday, however, for the unveiling of the mural. The following day she conducted training sessions with beginner ladies and put them through their paces.

“She was so generous with her time, it was unbelievable”, says Sally Donegan. “After two hours the girls were falling down with exhaustion. They couldn’t keep up with her.”

While it benefitted the girls, June Ann also got a kick out of it.

“I think I got younger by about 10 years”, she says enthusiastically. “I was running up and down with them. They were super.”

June Ann is made of strong stuff. Against the odds, she battled her way through Covid last January after being “on oxygen day and night”. She already survived a nasty car accident years ago and a more recent accident has curtailed her playing somewhat but she is certainly not hanging up her racket yet.

“I reckon in about four months I’ll be back playing. I’m a complete optimist”, she says.

And her mural is here to last too, not least because Jack Hickey has just become a member of Rushbrooke Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and will be there to touch it up when needed.

“She’s going to inspire every single person coming into the club playing tennis to realise that starting here can get you to Wimbledon. That’s going to be a huge inspiration especially for our juniors”, says Sally.

June Ann is also a role model for those of advancing years. In 2018 she became a world champion in Croatia for over-85s!