Sylvia Hanika

Sylvia Hanika

Country	Germany
Residence	La Manga, Spain
Born	30 November 1959 (1959-11-30) Munich, West Germany
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	68.0 kg (150 lb; 10.71 st)
Turned pro	1977
Retired	1990
Plays	Left-handed
Career prize money	$1,296,560
Singles
Career record	378–223
Career titles	4
Highest ranking	No. 5 (12 September 1983)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (1983)
French Open	F (1981)
Wimbledon	4R (1982, 1987)
US Open	QF (1979, 1981, 1983, 1984)
Other tournaments
Championships	W (1982)
Doubles
Career record	47–48
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 92 (14 August 1989)

Sylvia Hanika (born 30 November 1959 in Munich, West Germany) is a former professional tennis player from Germany. She is best remembered for finishing runner-up at the French Open in 1981, and for winning the Year End Championships in 1982. She was ranked as high as No. 5 in the world and played left-handed.

Career

Hanika turned professional in 1977. In 1981, Hanika reached the women's singles final at the French Open, where she was defeated 6–2, 6–4 by Hana Mandlíková.

In 1982, Hanika posted the biggest win of her career when she defeated World No. 2 Martina Navrátilová 1–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the final of the Avon Series Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Garden was also the site of Hanika's last big singles win: a 6–4 6–4 defeat of #3 Chris Evert in the first round of the Virginia Slims Championships in 1987.

Hanika won her final top-level singles title in Athens in 1986. She retired from the tour in 1990, having won four professional singles titles and one doubles title.

Between serves she was known to bounce the ball more than anyone tennis commentator and historian Bud Collins remembers: ". . . as many as into the 30s. If she faulted on the first, it was awful, another 30 or so bounces."

Major finals

Grand Slam final

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1981	French Open	Clay	Hana Mandlíková	6–2, 6–4

Year-End Championships final

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1982	New York City	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	1–6, 6–3, 6–4

Titles (5)

Singles (4)

Legend WTA Championships (1)

Titles by Surface Hard (0) Clay (1) Grass (0) Carpet (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	23 February 1981	Seattle, USA	Carpet (I)	Barbara Potter	6–2, 6–4
2.	22 March 1982	Avon Championships, New York City	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
3.	22 October 1984	Brighton, UK	Carpet (I)	JoAnne Russell Longdon	6–3, 1–6, 6–2
4.	15 September 1986	Athens, Greece	Clay	Angelikí Kanellopoúlou	7–5, 6–0

Doubles (1)

Legend
Tier V (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1.	28 November 1988	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Lori McNeil Jana Novotná	7–5, 6–7(4), 6–4

Singles runner-ups (16)

Grand slam events in boldface.

• 1978: Christchurch (lost to Regina Maršíková)
• 1979: Rome (lost to Tracy Austin)
• 1979: Kitzbühel (lost to Hana Mandlíková)
• 1981: Cincinnati (lost to Martina Navratilova)
• 1981: French Open (lost to Hana Mandlíková)
• 1981: Kitzbühel (lost to Claudia Kohde-Kilsch)
• 1982: Los Angeles (lost to Mima Jaušovec)
• 1983: Washington, D.C. (lost to Martina Navratilova)

• 1983: Houston (lost to Martina Navratilova)
• 1983: Oakland (lost to Bettina Bunge)
• 1983: Boston (lost to Wendy Turnbull)
• 1983: Hartford (lost to Kim Jones)
• 1987: San Francisco (lost to Zina Garrison)
• 1987: Mahwah (lost to Manuela Maleeva)
• 1988: Wichita (lost to Manuela Maleeva)
• 1988: Aix-en-Provence (lost to Judith Wiesner)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	Career SR
Australian Open	A	A	3R	A	A	QF	2R	A	NH	4R	4R	1R	A	0 / 6
French Open	1R	1R	3R	F	2R	3R	3R	4R	1R	4R	4R	4R	2R	0 / 13
Wimbledon	2R	3R	2R	1R	4R	3R	1R	2R	1R	4R	3R	1R	A	0 / 12
US Open	1R	QF	3R	QF	A	QF	QF	3R	2R	4R	3R	3R	2R	0 / 12
SR	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 2	0 / 43

A = did not participate in the tournament.

NH = tournament not held.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

External links

• Sylvia Hanika at the Women's Tennis Association
• Sylvia Hanika at the International Tennis Federation
• Sylvia Hanika at the Fed Cup