Tracy Austin

Tracy Austin
Country  United States
Residence Rolling Hills, California
Born December 12, 1962 (1962-12-12) (age 49)
Palos Verdes Peninsula, California, U.S.
Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Turned pro October 23, 1978
Retired July 1994
Plays Right-handed
(two-handed backhand)
Career prize money US$2,092,380
Int. Tennis HOF 1992 (member page)
Singles
Career record 335–90 (78.82%)
Career titles 30
Highest ranking No. 1 (1980)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open QF (1981)
French Open QF (1982, '83)
Wimbledon SF (1979, '80)
US Open W (1979, 1981)
Doubles
Career record 13–16
Career titles 4
Last updated on: N/A.

Tracy Ann Austin Holt (born December 12, 1962, in Palos Verdes, California) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from the United States who won the women's singles title at the US Open in 1979 and 1981 and the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1980, before a series of injuries cut her career short.

Contents

Career

1979 to 1980

Austin defeated 35-year-old Billie Jean King in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1979 6–4, 6–7, 6–2 before losing to Martina Navrátilová in straight sets in the semifinals. Austin then became the youngest ever US Open champion, aged 16 years and 9 months. In the final, she faced Chris 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 lost in the semifinals of both Grand Slam tournaments she played in 1980. Evonne Goolagong Cawley, seeded fourth and the eventual champion, defeated Austin 6–3, 0–6, 6–4 at Wimbledon. As the top seed and defending champion at the US Open, Austin was expected to extend her five-match winning streak against third-ranked Evert. Austin raced to a 4–0 lead in the first set before Evert won 16 of the final 20 games to take the match 4–6, 6–1, 6–1. Evert went on to beat Hana Mandlíková in the final, thus securing for herself the year-ending World No. 1 ranking. Austin was ranked the World No. 1 singles player at times during 1980/81, partly because she captured the two sponsors' tour-ending events, defeating Navrátilová to win the Avon Championships in March and Andrea Jaeger to capture the Colgate Series Championships in January 1981.[1] In 1980, Austin won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with her brother John, becoming the first brother and sister team ever to win a Grand Slam title together.

1981 to 1987

During the first four months of 1981, Austin played only two events because of chronic injuries. On grass, she won the tournament in Eastbourne, United Kingdom without losing a set before Pam Shriver beat her in a Wimbledon quarterfinal 7–5, 6–4. Austin then won 26 consecutive matches and four consecutive tournaments. She defeated Shriver in the final of the tournament in San Diego and, three weeks later, she beat both Navrátilová and Evert in straight sets to win the Canadian Open in Toronto. As the third-seeded player at the US Open, Austin defeated fourth-seeded Navrátilová in the final 1–6, 7–6(4), 7–6(1). Navrátilová, however, ended Austin's winning streak in the final of the U.S. Indoor Championships. In Europe during the autumn, Austin lost to Sue Barker in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Brighton, United Kingdom but recovered the following week to defeat Navrátilová in the final of the tournament in Stuttgart, West Germany. Austin was the first opponent of Steffi Graf when the German made her professional debut at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart in 1982. Austin defeated the 13-year-old Graf 6–4, 6–0. At the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, Austin was seeded second but lost to sixth-seeded Shriver in the Australian Open quarterfinals 7–5, 7–6. The year-ending Toyota Series Championships featured two matches against Evert and one against Navrátilová. Evert won her round robin match with Austin 4–6, 6–4, 7–6 before Austin won their semifinal 6–1, 6–2, with Evert blaming the loss on exhaustion. Austin then won the tournament with a three-set defeat of Navrátilová.

Back injuries and recurring sciatica then began to impair Austin's effectiveness and sidelined her for long stretches. King, seeded twelfth, upset third-seeded Austin in the 1982 Wimbledon quarterfinals 3–6, 6–4, 6–2. Several weeks later, however, Austin won her 30th and final top-level singles title in San Diego. Austin's last good showing at a major event was at the 1982 season-ending Toyota Series Championships where she defeated Jaeger, the World No. 3, 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, Austin was virtually finished as a top ten player.

1988 to 1994

Austin began her first comeback on 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 a near-fatal motor vehicle accident. She attempted a second comeback in 1993 and 1994 but was not particularly successful: in July 1994 she retired from professional tennis. (In 1994 at the Evert Cup in Indian Wells, California Austin, in the middle of her comeback, played Graf, who was World No. 1 at the time. This proved to be a lopsided encounter with Graf blanking Austin 6–0, 6–0.)

In 1992, Austin became the youngest person to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Family life and work as a tennis commentator

Tracy's older sister, Pam, and her older brother, Jeff, were also professional tennis players, as were brothers Doug and John. She is the sister-in-law of fitness author Denise Austin. She is married to Scott Holt and is the mother of three sons, Sean, Brandon, and Dylan.

As a child, Tracy lived next door to Air Force Colonel Keith Lindell who was responsible for the training of the original seven Project Mercury astronauts, and was baby sat by Gerald Neece, now with Oracle Corporation.

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, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 Australian Opens and usually participates in the BBC's Wimbledon coverage. She began working for Tennis Channel in 2010 and joined their US Open team. Austin also worked for CBC Sports for their coverage of the 2009 Rogers Cup.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 (2 titles, 0 runner-ups)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
Winner 1979 US Open Hard Chris Evert 6–4, 6–3
Winner 1981 US Open Hard Martina Navratilova 1–6, 7–6(4), 7–6(1)

Mixed doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score in the final
Winner 1980 Wimbledon Grass John Austin Dianne Fromholtz
Mark Edmondson		 4–6, 7–6(6), 6–3
Runner-up 1981 Wimbledon Grass John Austin Betty Stöve
Frew McMillan		 4–6, 7–6(2), 6–3

Year-End Championships finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome Year Location Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 1979 New York City Carpet (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–3, 3–6, 6–2
Winner 1980 New York City Carpet (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–2, 2–6, 6–2

Titles (35)

Singles (30)

Legend
Grand Slams (2)
WTA Championships (1)
Titles by Surface
Hard (12)
Clay (3)
Grass (2)
Carpet (13)
No. Date Location Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
1. January 3, 1977 Portland, USA Hard (i) Stacy Margolin 6–7, 6–3, 4–1 ret.
2. October 23, 1978 Filderstadt, West Germany Carpet (i) Betty Stöve 6–3, 6–3
3. November 2, 1978 Tokyo, Japan (Gunze World Tennis) Hard (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–1, 6–1
4. January 1, 1979 Washington, D.C., USA Carpet (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–3, 6–2
5. April 9, 1979 Hilton Head Island, USA Clay Kerry Reid 7–6, 7–6
6. May 7, 1979 Rome, Italy Clay Sylvia Hanika 6–4, 1–6, 6–3
7. July 30, 1979 San Diego, USA Hard Martina Navrátilová 6–4, 6–2
8. August 27, 1979 US Open, New York City Hard Chris Evert 6–4, 6–3
9. November 5, 1979 Filderstadt, West Germany Carpet (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–2, 6–0
10. December 10, 1979 Tokyo, Japan (Emeron Cup) Carpet (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–2, 6–1
11. January 7, 1980 Cincinnati, USA Carpet (i) Chris Evert 6–2, 6–1
12. January 28, 1980 Seattle, USA Carpet (i) Virginia Wade 6–2, 7–6
13. March 10, 1980 Boston, USA Hard (i) Virginia Wade 6–2, 6–1
14. March 17, 1980 Avon Championships, New York City Carpet (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–2, 2–6, 6–2
15. March 29, 1980 Carlsbad, USA Hard (i) Martina Navrátilová 7–5, 6–2
16. April 7, 1980 Hilton Head Island, USA Clay Regina Maršíková 3–6, 6–1, 6–0
17. June 16, 1980 Eastbourne, UK Grass Wendy Turnbull 7–6, 6–2
18. July 27, 1980 San Diego, USA Hard Wendy Turnbull 6–1, 6–3
19. September 29, 1980 Minneapolis, USA Carpet (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–1, 2–6, 6–2
20. November 3, 1980 Filderstadt, West Germany Carpet (i) Sherry Acker 6–2, 7–5
21. December 15, 1980 Tucson, USA Carpet (i) Peanut Louie Harper 6–2, 6–0
22. January 5, 1981 Washington, D.C., USA Carpet (i) Andrea Jaeger 6–2, 6–2
23. June 15, 1981 Eastbourne, UK Grass Andrea Jaeger 6–3, 6–4
24. July 27, 1981 San Diego, USA Hard Pam Shriver 6–2, 5–7, 6–2
25. August 17, 1981 Toronto, Canada Hard Chris Evert 6–1, 6–4
26. August 31, 1981 US Open, New York City Hard Martina Navratilova 1–6, 7–6(4), 7–6(1)
27. September 21, 1981 Atlanta, USA Hard Mary Lou Piatek 4–6, 6–3, 6–3
28. October 26, 1981 Filderstadt, West Germany Carpet (i) Martina Navratilova 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
29. December 14, 1981 East Rutherford, USA Carpet (i) Martina Navratilova 2–6, 6–4, 6–2
30. July 26, 1982 San Diego, USA Hard Kathy Rinaldi 7–6, 6–3

Doubles (5)

  • 1978: Phoenix (with Betty Stöve)
  • 1978: Filderstadt (with Betty Stöve)
  • 1979: Hollywood (with Betty Stöve)
  • 1979: Mahwah (with Betty Stöve)
  • 1980: San Diego (with Ann Kiyomura)

Runner-ups (17)

Singles (15)

Legend
Grand Slams (0)
WTA Championships (1)
Runner-ups by Surface
Hard (6)
Clay (2)
Grass (0)
Carpet (7)
No. Date Location Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
1. March 6, 1978 Dallas, USA Carpet (i) Evonne Goolagong Cawley 4–6, 6–0, 6–2
2. October 2, 1978 Phoenix, USA Hard (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–4, 6–2
3. January 29, 1979 Chicago, USA Carpet (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–3, 6–4
4. March 19, 1979 Avon Championships, New York City Carpet (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–3, 3–6, 6–2
5. May 15, 1979 Tokyo, Japan (Gunze World Tennis) Hard (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–1, 6–1
6. August 20, 1979 Mahwah, USA Hard Chris Evert 6–7(2), 6–4, 6–1
7. January 2, 1980 Washington, DC, USA Carpet (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–2, 6–1
8. February 4, 1980 Los Angeles, USA Hard (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–2, 6–0
9. April 28, 1980 Orlando, USA Clay Martina Navrátilová 6–2, 6–4
10. November 10, 1980 Tampa, USA Hard Andrea Jaeger walkover
11. November 17, 1980 Tokyo, Japan (Lion's Cup) Carpet (i) Martina Navrátilová 6–4, 6–3
12. September 28, 1981 Minneapolis, USA Carpet (i) Martina Navratilova 6–0, 6–2
13. October 18, 1982 Filderstadt, Germany Hard (i) Martina Navratilova 6–3, 6–3
14. December 6, 1982 Richmond, USA Carpet (i) Wendy Turnbull 6–7(3), 6–2, 6–4
15. April 4, 1983 Hilton Head Island, USA Clay Martina Navratilova 5–7, 6–1, 6–0

Doubles (2)

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
US 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.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Colgate Series Championships". http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tournoi_du_New_Jersey. Retrieved June 25, 2009. 

External links

Sporting positions
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