Tracy Austin
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| Country |  United States |
|
| Residence | Rolling Hills, California | |
| Date of birth | December 12, 1962 | |
| Place of birth | Palos Verdes Peninsula, California, USA | |
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) | |
| Weight | 120 lb. (54.4 kg) | |
| Turned Pro | October 23, 1978 | |
| Retired | July, 1994 | |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
|
| Career Prize Money | $2,092,380 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 335-90 | |
| Career titles: | 30 | |
| Highest ranking: | No.1 (1980) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | QF (1981) | |
| French Open | QF (1982, '83) | |
| Wimbledon | SF ('79, '80) | |
| U.S. Open | W ('79, '81) | |
| Doubles | ||
| Career record: | 13-16 | |
| Career titles: | 4 | |
| Highest ranking: | ? | |
|
Infobox last updated on: N/A. |
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Tracy Ann Austin Holt (b. December 12, 1962, in Palos Verdes, California) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from the United States. She won the women's singles title at the U.S. Open in 1979 and 1981 and the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1980, before a series of injuries cut short her career.
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[edit] Career
As a junior player, Austin won 21 age-group titles, including the U.S. national 12-and-under title at age 10 in 1972. In 1977, she became the youngest player to win a professional tournament, capturing the title in Portland, Oregon aged 14 years and 28 days. Later that year, she made her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon, losing to Chris Evert in the third round. At the U.S. Open two months later, she reached the quarterfinals, losing to Betty Stove.
Austin became the youngest-ever U.S. Open champion in 1979, aged 16 years and 9 months. In the final, she faced Evert who was bidding to win the title for the fifth consecutive year. Austin won the match 6-4, 6-3. Earlier that year, Austin had ended Evert's 125-match winning streak on clay by beating her in three sets in a semifinal of the Italian Open.
Austin was a singles semifinalist at Wimbledon in both 1979 (losing to Martina Navratilova) and 1980 (losing to Evonne Goolagong).
Austin won the U.S. Open again in 1981 in a close final against Navratilova 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(1).
In 1980, Austin won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with her brother John Austin.
Austin was briefly ranked the World No. 1 singles player in 1980, breaking Evert's and Navratilova's six year monopolization of the top spot. During that year, Austin captured the two sponsors' tour-ending events, defeating Navratilova to win the Avon Championships in March and Andrea Jaeger to capture the Colgate Series Championships in January 1981.
Austin repeated her success at the Toyota Series Championships in December 1981 by defeating Evert and Navratilova in back-to-back matches. Her 6-1, 6-2 semifinal defeat of Evert was her last career victory over her arch rival. (Evert had defeated Austin in an earlier roundrobin match at that tournament 4-6, 6-4, 7-6.)
After a fleeting period of great success, back injuries began to impair Austin's effectiveness and sidelined her for long stretches. She won her 29th and final top-level singles title at San Diego in 1982. Austin's last good showing at a major event was at the 1982 season-ending Toyota Series Championships where she defeated world no. 3, Andrea Jaeger in straight sets to reach the semifinals. However she was unable to repeat the previous year's victory over Evert, who defeated Austin 6-0, 6-0 in less than 50 minutes. By 1983, before her 21st birthday, she was virtually finished as a top ten player.
Austin began her first comeback to the tour in 1988 when she played in seven doubles tournaments and 1989 when she played in one doubles and two singles tournaments. This comeback was ended by of a near-fatal motor vehicle accident. She attempted a second comeback in 1993 and 1994 but was not particularly successful.
In 1992, Austin became the youngest person to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Since retiring as a player, Austin has worked frequently as a commentator for NBC and the USA Network. She worked for the Seven Network at the 2006 Australian Open and usually participates in the BBC's Wimbledon coverage.
[edit] Grand Slam singles finals
[edit] Wins (2)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1979 | U.S. Open | Chris Evert-Lloyd |
6-4, 6-3 |
| 1981 | U.S. Open (2) | Martina Navrátilová |
1-6, 7-6, 7-6 |
[edit] Titles (35)
[edit] Singles (30)
- 1977 (1) Portland
- 1978 (2) Filderstadt, Tokyo Gunze
- 1979 (7) U.S. Open, Washington, Italian Open, Hilton Head, San Diego, Tokyo Emerson Cup, Filderstadt
- 1980 (12) Avon Championships, Colgate Series Championships, Hilton Head, U.S. Indoors, La Costa, Eastbourne, Cincinnati, Seattle, Boston, Tucson, San Diego, Filderstadt
- 1981 (7) U.S. Open, Toyota Series Championships, Filderstadt, Canadian Open, Eastbourne, Atlanta, San Diego
- 1982 (1) San Diego
[edit] Doubles (4)
- 1978 (2) Phoenix, Filderstadt (both with Betty Stove)
- 1979 (2) Hollywood, Mahwah (both with Stove)
[edit] Mixed Doubles (1)
- 1980 Wimbledon (with John Austin)
[edit] Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
| Tournament | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984-1993 | 1994 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A / A | A | A | A | QF | A | A | A | 2R | 0 / 2 |
| French Open | A | A | A | A | A | QF | QF | A | 1R | 0 / 3 |
| Wimbledon | 3R | 4R | SF | SF | QF | QF | A | A | A | 0 / 6 |
| U.S. Open | QF | QF | W | SF | W | QF | A | A | A | 2 / 6 |
| SR | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 1 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 1 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 2 | 2 / 17 |
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by: Martina Navrátilová Martina Navrátilová |
World No. 1 April 7, 1980 - April 20, 1980 July 1, 1980 - November 17, 1980 |
Succeeded by: Martina Navrátilová Chris Evert |
|
* Open Era | (1968) Virginia Wade | (1969-70) Margaret Smith Court | (1971-72) Billie Jean King | (1973) Margaret Smith Court | (1974) Billie Jean King | (1975-78) Chris Evert | (1979) Tracy Austin | (1980) Chris Evert | (1981) Tracy Austin | (1982) Chris Evert | (1983-84) Martina Navrátilová | (1985) Hana Mandlíková | (1986-87) Martina Navrátilová | (1988-89) Steffi Graf | (1990) Gabriela Sabatini | (1991-92) Monica Seles | (1993) Steffi Graf | (1994) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario | (1995-96) Steffi Graf | (1997) Martina Hingis | (1998) Lindsay Davenport | (1999) Serena Williams | (2000-01) Venus Williams | (2002) Serena Williams | (2003) Justine Henin-Hardenne | (2004) Svetlana Kuznetsova | (2005) Kim Clijsters | (2006) Maria Sharapova |
| Women's Tennis Association | World No. 1's in Women's tennis | |
|---|---|
| Tracy Austin | Jennifer Capriati | Kim Clijsters | Lindsay Davenport | Chris Evert | Steffi Graf | Justine Henin-Hardenne | Martina Hingis | Amélie Mauresmo | Martina Navrátilová | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario | Monica Seles | Maria Sharapova | Serena Williams | Venus Williams | |
