Kerry Melville

Kerry Reid

Full name	Kerry Melville Reid
Country (sports)	Australia
Born	(1947-08-07) August 7, 1947 Mosman, New South Wales
Retired	1979
Singles
Career record	236–104
Highest ranking	5
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	W (1977)
French Open	SF (1967)
Wimbledon	SF (1974)
US Open	F (1972)
Doubles
Career record	172–64
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	W (1968, 1977)
Wimbledon	W (1978)
US Open	F (1978)

Kerry Melville Reid, MBE, (born 7 August 1947, in Mosman, New South Wales) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. During her 17-year career, Reid won one Grand Slam singles title and 26 other singles titles and was the runner-up in 40 singles tournaments. Reid was included in the year-end world top ten rankings for 12 consecutive years (1968–1979). She won at least one tournament annually from 1966 through 1979, except for 1975. Her career-high ranking was World No. 5 from 1971 through 1974, behind Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, and Chris Evert.

Career

Reid began her Grand Slam tennis career in 1963 when she reached the third round of the Australian Championships. In 1966, she reached the semifinals of both the Australian and U.S. Championships (defeating Billie Jean King, the defending champion, in the second round of the latter tournament). In 1967, Reid again reached the semifinals of the Australian Championships and reached the semifinals of the French Championships for the only time.

Reid was the women's singles runner-up at the 1970 Australian Open, losing to Margaret Court. Reid also was the women's singles runner-up at the U.S. Open in 1972, losing to King after defeating Chris Evert in a semifinal 6–4, 6–2.

In 1972, Reid reached the final of the inaugural WTA Tour Championships, where she lost to Evert 7–5, 6–4.

In January 1977, Reid won her only Grand Slam singles title when she defeated fellow Australian Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat 7–5, 6–2 in the final of the Australian Open. Reid and Balestrat were the only top 10 players who played the tournament. The previous week, Reid also defeated Balestrat in the final of the New South Wales Open, where Reid and Balestrat again were the only top 10 players who entered. On both the Virginia Slims and the Colgate Grand Prix tours in 1977, Reid qualified for the season-ending tournaments (each limited to the top eight players on the respective tour). And in World Team Tennis, Reid was undefeated in singles against both Martina Navratilova and Virginia Wade, defeating each three times.

Reid capped her last year on the professional tour in 1979 by beating Navratilova for the first time in tournament play. Reid defeated Navratilova in a Family Circle Cup semifinal 6–3, 7–6 before losing to Tracy Austin in the final 7–6, 7–6. Reid also competed in the year-ending WTA Tour Championships (limited to the year's top 8 players).

Reid won the Australian Open women's doubles title twice, outright in 1968 and shared in December 1977. With Wendy Turnbull in 1978, Reid won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon, was the doubles runner-up at the U.S. Open, and won the doubles titles at the Virginia Slims of Seattle, the Virginia Slims of Philadelphia, the U.S. Women's Indoor Championships, and the New South Wales Open.

Reid was a member of the Australian team that won the Federation Cup in 1968. She also helped Australia reach four consecutive Federation Cup finals from 1976 through 1979 on a variety of court surfaces. During that run, she beat several top players, including Rosemary Casals (1976 final on carpet 1–6, 6–3, 7–5), Wade (1977 semifinal on grass 6–4, 6–4 in Eastbourne just weeks before Wade's Wimbledon victory), Austin (1978 final in Melbourne on grass 6–3, 6–3) and Hana Mandlíková (1979 semifinal on clay 6–4, 6–3).

Reid defeated Austin the first three times they played, although Austin won their remaining five career matches. Reid also defeated Mandlikova in both of their career matches.

Reid was a member of the "Houston 9", the breakaway group led by Gladys Heldman in 1971 that formed the nucleus of the women's professional tennis tour.

Reid anchored a World Team Tennis team for each season of its inaugural incarnation (Boston Lobsters 1974-1976 and San Diego Friars 1977-1978).

Personal life

Reid married Grover "Raz" Reid, a Boston Lobsters teammate, in 1975. Raz retired as a player in 1977 and coached Kerry during the remaining three years of her playing career. The Reids then retired to Raz's home state of South Carolina and raised two daughters.

Reid was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1979.

Grand Slam singles finals: 3 finals (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up (1/1)	1970	Australian Open	Grass	Margaret Court	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up (2/2)	1972	US Open	Grass	Billie Jean King	6–3, 7–5
Winner (3/1)	1977	Australian Open (January)	Grass	Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat	7–5, 6–2

Grand Slam women's doubles finals

Wins (3)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1968	Australian Championships	Karen Krantzcke	Judy Tegart Dalton Lesley Turner Bowrey	6–4, 3–6, 6–2
1977 (Dec.)	Australian Open	Mona Guerrant	Evonne Goolagong Cawley Helen Gourlay Cawley	title shared, final rained out
1978	Wimbledon	Wendy Turnbull	Mima Jaušovec Virginia Ruzici	4–6, 9–8(10), 6–3

Runner-ups (5)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1970	Australian Open	Karen Krantzcke	Margaret Court Judy Tegart Dalton	6–3, 6–1
1973	Australian Open	Kerry Harris	Margaret Court Virginia Wade	6–4, 6–4
1974	Australian Open	Kerry Harris	Evonne Goolagong Cawley Peggy Michel	7–5, 6–3
1977 (Jan.)	Australian Open	Betsy Nagelsen	Helen Gourlay Cawley Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat	5–7, 6–1, 6–4
1978	U.S. Open	Wendy Turnbull	Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova	7–6, 6–4

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977		1978	1979	Career SR
Australia	3R	2R	3R	SF	SF	3R	SF	F	A	A	SF	SF	2R	1R	W	SF	A	A	1 / 14
France	A	A	A	1R	SF	4R	A	1R	2R	4R	A	A	A	A	A		A	A	0 / 6
Wimbledon	A	A	A	3R	3R	3R	2R	4R	QF	3R	QF	SF	2R	QF	QF		4R	4R	0 / 14
United States	A	A	A	SF	4R	A	1R	QF	SF	F	QF	QF	QF	2R	4R		4R	QF	0 / 13
SR	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	1 / 4		0 / 2	0 / 2	1 / 47

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

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

External links

• Kerry Ann Reid at the Women's Tennis Association
• Kerry Melville at the Billie Jean King Cup
• tenniscorner.net profile
• sporting-heroes.net profile