Helen Bernhard

{{Short description|American tennis player 1921–1998}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox tennis biography

| name = Helen Bernhard

| image = Helen Bernhard 1941.jpg

| caption = Bernhard, circa 1941

| fullname = Helen Irene Bernhard

| country_represented = {{Flagu|United States}}

| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1921|7|7}}

| birth_place = Manhattan, New York

| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1998|4|19|1921|7|7}}

| death_place =

| height = 5 ft 5 in

| plays =

| careerprizemoney =

| singlesrecord =

| singlestitles =

| highestsinglesranking =

| USOpenresult = SF (1942)

| doublesrecord =

| doublestitles =

| highestdoublesranking =

| USOpenDoublesresult = QF (1941)

}}

Helen Irene Bernhard (July 7, 1921 – April 19, 1998) was an American tennis player.

Bernhard was born in Manhattan, New York, to a Russian father and Polish mother, both war time immigrants to the United States. She attended Wadleigh High School in Harlem and was considered a significant prospect, winning back to back national junior championships in 1938 and 1939.{{cite news |title=N.Y.-born Helen Bernhard Brightest Net Prospect |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/429880028 |work=New York Daily News |date=August 6, 1939}}

Only active on tour in the early 1940s, Bernhard was ranked as high as fourth in the country and made the quarter-finals or better of the U.S national championships three times. She reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 1940 after saving match points in her round three win over Margaret Osborne, before falling to Alice Marble.{{cite news |title=Kramer Upsets Prusoff; Schroeder Tops Grant |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/432106809 |work=New York Daily News |date=September 6, 1940}} When she lost in the quarter-finals again in 1941 it was Osborne who beat her. Her best performance came in 1942, reaching the semi-finals with a win over Helen Rihbany. She lost her semi-final match in three sets to the top seed Louise Brough.{{cite news |title=Frankie Parker Reaches Finals |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/768927532 |work=The Bellingham Herald |date=September 6, 1942}}

Bernard, a graduate of Cornell University, married Navy officer James Whiteaker in 1945.{{cite news |title=Gets Promotion |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/772979388 |work=The Knoxville News-Sentinel |date=July 13, 1945}} She died on April 19, 1998, aged 76.{{cite web |title=U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/26741042:60901?tid=&pid=&queryId=5615be11ed3931fef8e55320a140daba&_phsrc=sgs391&_phstart=successSource |website=Ancestry |access-date=12 January 2023 |url-access=subscription}}