Tracy Austin

Tracy Austin

Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Rolling Hills, California
Born	(1962-12-12) December 12, 1962 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)
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 singles 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.

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. 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.

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)

• 1978: Tokyo (Gunze World Tennis) (with Kathy May Fritz)
• 1979: Oakland (with Betty Stöve)

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

• List of female tennis players
• List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions
• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

External links

• Tracy Austin at the Women's Tennis Association
• Tracy Austin at the Billie Jean King Cup
• Tracy Austin at the International Tennis Hall of Fame