Ethel Sutton Bruce (January 22, 1881 – June 18, 1957) was an English-born American tennis player.
Ethel Mathilda Godfray Sutton was born in Portsmouth, England, the daughter of Adolphus DeGrouchy Sutton and Adeline Esther Godfray Sutton. Adolphus Sutton was a naval captain. The family moved to Pasadena, California when Ethel was a girl. Three of her sisters, May Sutton, Florence Sutton, and Violet Sutton, were also competitive tennis players.[1]
Ethel Sutton often played against her sisters; together, the Suttons won every Southern California women's singles championship between 1899 and 1915.[2] Ethel won the title in 1906, 1911, 1912, and 1913.[3] Ethel also won titles in doubles and mixed doubles events.[4] [5]
Ethel Sutton Bruce wrote a series of articles about tennis for the San Francisco Call newspaper in 1913.[6] She later co-authored a book, Tennis, Fundamentals and Timing (1938) with her husband.[7] She also taught tennis in physical education classes for women at the University of California Los Angeles.[8] [9]
In 1947, all four Sutton sisters wore 1890s-style tennis costumes to play at a Santa Monica fundraiser for Children's Hospital Los Angeles.[10]
Ethel Sutton married Robert O. Bruce; they had a son, Robert. She died in Santa Monica, California in 1957, aged 76 years.[11]
Ethel Sutton Bruce's brother-in-law was tennis player Tom Bundy. She was the aunt of several tennis players of a younger generation, including Dorothy Cheney and John Doeg. In 1976, Ethel Sutton Bruce, Violet Sutton Hope-Doeg, and Florence Sutton were inducted into the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame.[12]