Beth Herr

Beth Herr (born 1964) is an American tennis player from Centerville Ohio where she was a two time high school Singles State Champion (80-81).[1] She became the number 1 junior tennis player in the world at age 16. Upon graduation from Centerville High School, she was the #1 college recruit in 1982 and went on to play for the University of Southern California where she won the NCAA singles title and team title in her freshman year. She beat Clemson's Gigi Fernández 7–6 in the 3rd set after being down a match point to win the NCAA singles final.[2] Beth Herr won the 1982 French Open girls' doubles championship with Janet Lagasse.[3]

She cut short college and went directly into professional tennis after the NCAA Championship and played on tour for 11 years with wins over Martina Navratilova, Pam Shriver, Hana Mandlíková and Mary Joe Fernandez. She lost an epic match to Billie Jean King at Wimbledon 8–6 in the 3rd.[4] Commentators on HBO Breakfast at Wimbledon made a very big deal out of her ability to hit numerous swinging volleys out of the air for winners. This which was something that had not been done before especially by a female.

After tennis she finished her undergraduate degree at UCLA and then went to law school at UCLA. She married Tennis Channel founder Steve Bellamy[5] and after a short stint as a lawyer at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, she stopped working and started raising their 4 children.

She later went on to win the US Open and World Championships of paddle tennis and teamed with Scotty Freedman to become the greatest Mixed Doubles team in the sports 112-year history they were undefeated as a team from 2000 – 2007

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ohsaa.org/sports/records/gterecrd.pdf
  2. ↑ "Beth Herr Wins". The New York Times. 1983-05-23. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  3. ↑ UBItennis Tomorrow’s Stars
  4. ↑ Miller, Geoffrey (1983-06-23). "King survives scare from Herr". The Daily Collegian. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  5. ↑ Associated Press (2008-07-22). "Several tennis pros to play in unisex tourney". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2009-02-07.

Template:Ohio High School' singles champions