Born | 1933 (age 90–91) Santa Monica, California |
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College | University of California-Los Angeles |
Medal record | ||
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Representing United States | ||
Maccabiah Games | ||
Women's tennis | ||
1953 Israel | Women's Singles | |
1953 Israel | Mixed Doubles | |
1953 Israel | Women's Doubles |
Anita Kanter (born 1933) is a former amateur tennis player from the U.S. who played in the 1950s. In singles, Kanter was ranked # 6 in the United States (and # 10 in the world by World Tennis magazine) in 1952, and # 9 in the US in 1953. [1] [2] [3]
Kanter was born in Santa Monica, California, and is Jewish. [4] [5] She attended Santa Monica High School. [6]
Kanter won the 1949 US Girls National Hard Court Singles Championship. [3] She won the US girls tennis championship in 1951 as an 18-year-old sophomore at the University of California-Los Angeles, as well as the 1951 National Hard Court Doubles and Mixed Doubles championships. [7] [3]
In 1952, she won the U.S. Women's Clay Court Championships, and was the runner-up at the Foothills Cup. [7] [3] That year at the Cincinnati Masters, she won both the singles and doubles titles. [8]
In 1953 she won the US National hard court tennis championship, [5] successfully defended her doubles title, [3] and reached the singles final. She was seeded no. 1 in singles and doubles in both appearances in Cincinnati. In doubles in those two years, she paired with Joan Merciadis in 1952 and with Thelma Long of Australia in 1953. [9]
Kanter, who is Jewish, competed in Israel in the 1953 Maccabiah Games—the "Jewish Olympics". [10] At the Games, Kanter, ranked #9 in the US at the time, lost the women's singles title to Angela Buxton and ended up with the silver medal, [11] [12] [13] but won two gold medals, one as she won the mixed doubles title with Grant Golden and one as she won the women's double title with Toby Greenberg - beating Angela Buxton and Carol Levy of Britain in the final. [7] [14] [3]
In 2014, she was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. [15] [3]