Portal:Tennis/Selected biography/Archive
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The following are archives of articles which have been displayed on the selected biography section of Portal:Tennis. |
2008
[edit]May
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Dorothea Katherine Douglass Lambert Chambers (September 3, 1878 – January 7, 1960) was a British female tennis player who was born in Guayamas, Ealing in England. In 1900, Douglass made her debut at Wimbledon. Three years later, she won her first of seven ladies singles titles. She wrote Tennis for Ladies, which was published in 1910. The book contained photographs of tennis techniques. It also contained advice on attire and equipment. In 1911, Douglass won the women's final at Wimbledon 6–0, 6–0. The only other female player who won a Grand Slam singles final without losing a game was Steffi Graf when she defeated Natalia Zvereva in the 1988 French Open final. In 1919, Doublass played the longest Wimbledon final up to that time: 44 games against Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen. Douglass held two match points at 6–5 in the third set but eventually lost to Lenglen 8–10, 6–4, 9–7. Douglass retired from singles play in 1921 but continued to compete in doubles until 1927. From 1924 to 1926, she captained Britain's Wightman Cup team and in 1928 turned to professional coaching. Douglass was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1981. She died in Kensington, London.
April
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Jennifer Marie Capriati (born March 29, 1976, in New York City) is a former World No. 1 women's tennis player from the United States. She won three Grand Slam singles titles (2001 and 2002 Australian Open, 2001 French Open), and the women's singles gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games. In 2002, she received an ESPY for Comeback Player of the Year. That year's nominees included such high profile talent as Mario Lemieux and Michael Jordan. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put her in 36th place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era. Capriati was one of the first big-hitters to emerge on the women's tennis tour in the 1990s, along with other players, including Lindsay Davenport, Mary Pierce and Monica Seles. Her game was built around her flat forehand, which could be devastating when hit hard.
March
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Twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan are American professional tennis players. Between 2005 and 2006, they reached an Open Era record of seven consecutive men's doubles Grand Slam finals. Born on 29 April 1978, with Mike being the older by two minutes, The Bryans, as they are known, have won 44 tour titles (including ten ATP Masters Series titles), completing a career Grand Slam with victories at the French Open (2003), US Open (2005), Australian Open (2006 and 2007) , and Wimbledon (2006). They also won the Tennis Masters Cup Doubles tournament (2003, 2004), and have been the finalists on 25 other occasions. The twins are also part of the United States Davis Cup team, with a 12-1 doubles matches win-loss record.
February
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Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (Russian: Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова) (born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. At the end of 2006, she was the world's highest-paid female athlete. Her surname is pronounced in her native Russian with a slight stress only on the second syllable (Sharápova), yet English speakers in general, and American sports commentators in particular, commonly mispronounce it by stressing the third syllable (Sharapóva). Sharapova has won two Grand Slam singles titles. In 2004, she beat Serena Williams to take the Wimbledon title at the age of 17. Two years later, she defeated Justine Henin in the final of the 2006 U.S. Open. She also reached the final at the 2007 Australian Open. At 6'2", Sharapova is one of the tallest women currently in the women's game. Only Lindsay Davenport has been a taller Grand Slam champion in the 21st Century.
January
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Martina Navratilova (born October 18, 1956, in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a former World No. 1 woman tennis player. She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women's doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, including 9 consecutive years from 1982 through 1990, and won the women's singles title at Wimbledon a record 9 times. She and King each won 20 Wimbledon titles, an all-time record. Navratilova is one of just three women to have accomplished a career Grand Slam in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles (called the Grand Slam "boxed set"). She holds the open era record for most singles and doubles tournament wins (167 and 177 titles respectively). She also recorded the longest winning streak in tennis history (74 matches in a row) and three of the six longest winning streaks in women's tennis history. Navratilova, Margaret Court, and Maureen Connolly Brinker share the record for the most consecutive Grand Slam singles titles (six).
2007
[edit]December
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James Scott "Jimmy" Connors (born September 2, 1952 in East St. Louis, Illinois) is a former world number one American tennis champion who was the top player for 160 consecutive weeks from July of 1974 to August of 1977. He also was the number one player an additional eight times during his career. He won eight Grand Slam singles titles, won two Grand Slam doubles titles with Ilie Năstase and finished mixed doubles runner-up with Chris Evert at the 1974 U.S. Open. He is considered to be one of the top male tennis players of all time. Currently, he is coaching former World Number 1 and 2003 U.S. Open champion tennis player Andy Roddick.
In 1970, Connors played his first international matches and recorded his first significant victory in the first round of the Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles. Connors also acquired a reputation as a maverick when he refused to join the newly formed Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the union that was embraced by most male professional players.
November
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Margaret Court AO MBE (born 16 July 1942) is a retired former World No. 1 tennis player from Australia, who in 1970, became the first woman in the open era to win all four Grand Slam singles titles in the same calendar year. Court won a record 24 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other player – male or female – in tennis. She won a record 62 Grand Slam titles – 24 singles, 19 women's doubles, and 19 mixed doubles, again, more than any other player – male or female – in tennis. Many consider her the greatest female tennis player. The International Tennis Hall of Fame states, "There has never been a tennis player to match (her)."
Born as Margaret Smith in Albury New South Wales, Court began playing tennis when she was eight years old and was 17 when she won the first of seven consecutive singles titles at the Australian Championships in 1960. Court is one of only three players to have achieved a career "boxed set" of Grand Slam titles, winning every possible Grand Slam title – singles, same-sex doubles and mixed doubles – at all four Grand Slam events. The others are Doris Hart and Martina Navrátilová. Court, however, is the only person to have won all 12 Grand Slam events at least twice.
Read more about Margaret Court...
October
[edit]Roger Federer (born August 8, 1981) is a Swiss tennis professional, currently ranked World No. 1 since February 2, 2004 for a record 191 consecutive weeks. Widely regarded as the best player of his generation, he is considered among the elite group of all-time great male tennis players. Federer is the first living Swiss to be pictured on a postage stamp, issued in April 2007 depicting Federer with the Wimbledon trophy. In 2007, he was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record third consecutive time.
Federer has won 12 Grand Slam singles titles (second-most of any male player, tied with Roy Emerson), three ATP World Tour Finals titles, and 14 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles. He has won three Grand Slam singles titles in a calendar year a record three times (in 2004, 2006 and 2007). He holds the record of ten consecutive Grand Slam singles final appearances and the only male player to have played in the finals of all four Grand Slam tournaments for two consecutive years.