Jenny Staley Hoad (3 March 1934 – 13 February 2024) was an Australian tennis player who was mainly active in the 1950s.
Career
In January 1951 Staley won the junior doubles title at the Australian Championships partnering Margaret Wallis.[1][2] In 1953 she also won the junior Australian singles title.[3]
Lew Hoad and Jennifer Staley (right) at the Davis Cup Ball on 30 December 1953
Lew Hoad proposed to Staley on her 21st birthday party in March 1955, and they planned to announce their engagement in June in London while both were on an overseas tour.[10] After arriving in London Staley discovered that she was pregnant, and the couple decided to get married straight away. The marriage took place the following day on 18 June 1955 at St Mary's Church, Wimbledon in London on the eve of Wimbledon.[11][12][13] They had two daughters and a son. After Hoad's retirement they moved to Fuengirola, Spain, near Málaga, where they constructed and operated the tennis resort Lew Hoad's Campo de Tenis for more than 30 years, entertaining personal friends that included actors Stewart Granger, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Peter Ustinov, Deborah Kerr and her husband Peter Viertel, Kirk Douglas, singer Frank Sinatra and saxophonist Stan Getz.[14][15][16] Lew Hoad was diagnosed with a rare and incurable form of leukemia on 13 January 1994, which caused his death on 3 July 1994, at the age of 59.[17][18]
Jenny Hoad sold the club in April 1999 but continued to live at the accompanying residential complex.[19] In 2002, she published My Life with Lew with Jack Pollard.
Jenny Staley Hoad died in Fuengirola, Spain on 13 February 2024, at the age of 89.[20]
