Sporting Highlights for 1940
Here are some of the sporting highlights in the world of sport for 1940. Some of the world sporting events were not held in this period due to the second World War, including the scheduled Olympic Games for Tokyo, British Golf Open, Wimbledon, the French Open Tennis and the Tour de France. In the US, it was mostly sport as usual.
A couple of the major tennis events were affected that year due to the Second World War. Two grand slams, the Wimbledon and the French Open were canceled. Adrian Quist and Don McNeill won the Australian Open and the US Open respectively. It was the second slam title for both. While McNeill retired with the two slam titles, Quist won the Australian Open again after eight years for his third and final slam title.
After already winning the US Open once earlier, Alice Marble completed a three-peat at the event to earn her a fifth and final grand slam title.
Babe Zaharias was a ten-time grand slam winner, and it all started with her first win at the Women's Western Open that year. She won the event three more time in the future and three times each of two other majors to finish her career.
The Reds won their second championship, their first since the scandal-tainted victory in 1919.
Byron Nelson won the PGA Championship for the first time for his third major title. He took the event again for the second time few years later for his fifth and final major.
It was the year of the Olympics, and the summer games was scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan and the winter games in Sapporo, Japan. Both events were canceled due to the Second World War.
Below is a timeline of some significant results in the world of sport for the year 1940.
| Date | Results |
|---|---|
| Jan | Tennis Australia Open won by Adrian Quist and Nancye Wynne. |
| April | Golf Masters won by Jimmy Demaret (1st win). |
| June | Golf US Open won by Lawson Little. |
| Aug | Golf US PGA won by Byron Nelson. |
| Sep | Tennis US National Championship won by Don McNeill and Alice Marble. |
| Oct 2-8 | The Baseball World Series was won by the Cincinnati Reds 2 to 1 over the Detroit Tigers |
Please note that the dates for past events are not always known, and are sometimes just placed in the month that the current event is held. If no exact date is listed, then it is just an estimated month that it was held.
If you have a correction or know of events that should be included here, please let me know.
Related Pages
- Timeline (all years) in the world of sport
- For future sporting events, see the Calendar of Major Sporting Events
- More about the World of Sport
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
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