Tara Moore
| Country (sports) |  United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Residence | Florida, United States |
| Born | 6 August 1992 Hong Kong |
| Height | 1.73 m (5.7 ft) |
| Turned pro | 2010 |
| Plays | Right-handed (double-handed backhand) |
| Coach | John Morris |
| Prize money | US$82,834 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 170–114 |
| Career titles | 0 WTA (6 ITF) |
| Highest ranking | No. 194 (27 May 2013) |
| Current ranking | No. 194 (27 May 2013) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | – |
| French Open | Q1 (2013) |
| Wimbledon | Q1 (2008, 2011, 2012) |
| US Open | – |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 63–55 |
| Career titles | 0 WTA (4 ITF) |
| Highest ranking | No. 219 (27 May 2013) |
| Current ranking | No. 219 (27 May 2013) |
| Last updated on: 8 June 2013. | |
Tara Shanice Moore (born 6 August 1992) is an English professional tennis player. She is currently the British no. 5 and, as of 27 May 2013, is ranked 194 in the world (a career high). So far in her career she has won 6 ITF singles titles and 4 ITF doubles titles. She is at a career-high doubles ranking of world no. 219 (27 May 2013).
As a junior she was coached by the esteemed American tennis coach, Nick Bollettieri, who has previously coached champions such as Andre Agassi, Serena Williams, Monica Seles and Mary Pierce. In September 2006 he referred to Tara as one of the best young players in his school, the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, along with Michelle Larcher de Brito.[1] Her favourite surface is stated as being grass although most of her titles to date have come on hard court.[2]
Career
2006–2007
Tara's first professional tennis match came in August 2006 at the $10,000 ITF tournament in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She won two matches to qualify before losing in the first round of the tournament. Moore then moved on to qualify and reach the quarterfinals in only the second ITF tournament of her career in Caracas, Venezuela, another $10,000 event.[3]
2007 didn't start badly for Tara; she reached the quarterfinals of another $10,000 ITF event in Irapuato before losing to Ana-Clara Duarte of Brazil in straight sets. In July she entered her first $25,000 ITF tournament in Felixstowe, Great Britain where she lost in the qualifying stages. Her next two tournaments were both $10,000 ITFs in Great Britain (Ilkley and Wrexham) and she managed to reach the quarterfinal stages of both of these. She ended the year with three consecutive first round losses in $25,000 events. Her year-end ranking for 2007 was world no. 823.[3]
2008
April and May 2008 resulted in three failures to qualify for ITF tournaments, two of which were $25,000 events, the other a $50,000. She became a quarterfinalist yet again in her next tournament, the $10,000 ITF in Izmir, Turkey. She then began a successful grass court season with a wildcard into the qualifying tournament of Wimbledon where she lost in the first round after a valiant three-set battle against former top-40 player Olga Puchkova of Russia, 6–4 6–7(0) 4–6. She followed this up immediately with her first ever semifinal in the $25,000 tournament held in Felixstowe and continued the momentum in the following tournament ($10,000 Frinton) where she won, beating fellow teenager Mona Barthel of Germany, 7–5 6–1 in the final.
Her next noteworthy result of 2008 came on the ITF tour in early November at the $10,000 event in Sunderland, England. She won through two tough three-set matches in the first and second rounds before winning her quarterfinal match in two sets and coming up against teenage sensation, Laura Robson, in one of two all-British semifinals. She lost in straight sets, 3–6 3–6 to Robson (who was the eventual champion). Immediately after this was the $10,000 tournament in Jersey. In the second round of this tournament she played a rematch of her second round match in the previous tournament in Sunderland. She beat Tetyana Arefyeva in three sets for the second time in two weeks to reach the quarter-final stage where she was beaten by Katarzyna Piter, 4–6 2–6. She ended 2008 with a singles ranking of world no. 712.[3]
2009
Tara struggled throughout 2009 and did not go beyond the quarter finals in any of the events she competed in. Tara enjoyed a straight sets win over former top 20 player Eleni Danilidou of Greece as she qualified for the $50,000 event in Nottingham. Tara also competed at the ITF junior events at Roehampton and Wimbledon but surprisingly lost early in both events as she was drawn against junior world number 3 Tímea Babos of Hungary. Post Wimbledon Tara' best result was qualifying for a $75,000 event in Shrewsbury before losing to German Angelique Kerber 6–2 6–1. Tara was also asked to leave the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) National Tennis Centre (NTC) as a result of her perceived lack of professionalism and poor attitude, Tara would end the year in India before heading back to Hong Kong.
2010
2010 started very much as 2009 ended for Tara with early loses in her first handful of events. Tara was training and working out of Hong Kong following her expulsion from the Lawn Tennis Association although in March Tara began working with British tennis coach John Morris who is also the coach of Tímea Babos, ranked a lowly 790 on the WTA world rankings Tara moved back to Britain to train at Gosling Tennis Academy under the watchful eye of John Morris. Tara's results started to pick up in spring time of 2010 as she reached the final of the ITF women's $10,000 event in Edinburgh losing to stable mate Tímea Babos, Tara followed this up with her first career top 100 win at the ITF women's $50,000 event in Nottingham beating Kai-Chen Chang in 3 tough sets. During the grass court season Tara represented Great Britain in the Maureen Connolly trophy, a sign that the LTA were beginning to see the improvements in Tara both on and off court. This was quickly followed by a WC in to the ITF junior event at Roehampton where Tara beat world junior number 1 Daria Gavrilova 6–0 6–1 before beating the 2010 Australian Open junior champion Karolína Plíšková 6–3 6–1 but Tara found Karolina's twin sister Kristýna Plíšková too hot to handle as Pliskova achieved a rare double of winning both titlea at Roehampton and Wimbledon. On to Wimbledon Tara had some impressive wins and reached her first grand slam quarter final where she played fellow Brit Laura Robson and despite controlling much of the match Tara lost in 2 set although she put herself firmly on the tennis map during the grass court season and credited John Morris for much of the improvements. Post Wimbledon Tara won her 2nd career title at the ITF women's $10,000 event in Chiswick as well as her first ITF women's doubles title alongside Fran Stephenson at the $25,000 in Wrexham beating Sania Mirza and Emma Laine in the final. Tara would go on to have a very solid autumn reaching several quarter and semi finals before ending the year at the $75,000 event in Dubai. Tara was able to achieve several career high rankings through the year and ended 2010 ranked 370. Tara also became a professional in Aug of 2010 when she signed professional terms with London based management company Global Tennis Connections (GTC), she also signed a long term deal with Adidas International on the back of her upsurge in form and ranking.
2011
Tara was runner-up in the ITF women's $10K tournament in Sunderland, UK, and won the ITF women's $10K in Loughborough, UK, where she also won the doubles, partnering countywoman Francesca Stephenson. She also reached doubles finals in ITF women's $10K tournaments in Istanbul partnering Lisa Whybourn, and in Bath, UK, partnering Emma Laine. She ended 2011 with a singles ranking of 332.
2012
Tara won no titles in 2012, but finished as runner up in singles in the ITF women's $50K tournament in Kazan, Russia, and in doubles, partnering fellow Brit Lucy Brown in the ITF women's $10K in Antalya, Turkey. However, she improved her ranking throughout the year, and achieved her highest year-end ranking to date, of 249 in singles.
2013
Tara started 2013 well, winning the $10K ITF women's singles titles in Glasgow and Preston in the UK, and following that with the $25K ITF women's title in Surprise, Arizona, USA. In partnership with compatriot Melanie South, Tara also won the doubles titles in Glasgow and in the ITF women's $25K in Rancho Mirage, California, USA, and was runner up in Preston and in Phuket, Thailand.
Tara debuted in the top 200 in the singles rankings on 22 April and made the cut for the Roland Garros qualifying tournament, her first Grand Slam outside of Wimbledon, where she has played qualifiers courtesy of wildcards. There she lost to seventh seed Sesil Karatancheva in the first round of qualifying.
On grass, in the UK, Tara was awarded a wildcard into the $75K ITF women's Aegon Trophy in Nottingham. She reached the second round, beating 143-ranked Slovenian, Tadeja Majeric before falling to 110-ranked Hungarian, Melinda Czink. She then received a wildcard into the WTA Aegon Classic at Edgbaston.
ITF circuit finals
Singles: 9 (6–3)
|
|
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 19 July 2008 | Frinton, Great Britain
|
Grass (o) |  Mona Barthel
|
7-5 6-1 |
| Runner–up | 1. | 9 May 2010 | Edinburgh, Great Britain
|
Clay (o) |  Tímea Babos
|
2-6 2-6 |
| Winner | 2. | 1 August 2010 | Chiswick, Great Britain
|
Hard (o) |  Amy Bowtell
|
6-3 6-4 |
| Runner–up | 2. | 6 November 2011 | Sunderland, Great Britain
|
Hard (i) |  Alison Van Uytvanck
|
4-6 1-6 |
| Winner | 3. | 11 November 2011 | Loughborough, Great Britain
|
Hard (i) |  Myrtille Georges
|
7-6 (7-5) 5-7 6-4 |
| Runner–up | 3. | 18 August 2012 |  Kazan, Russia
|
Hard (o) |  Kateryna Kozlova
|
3-6 3-6 |
| Winner | 4. | 20 January 2013 | Glasgow, Great Britain
|
Hard (i) | Myrtille Georges
|
6-4 6-1 |
| Winner | 5. | 27 January 2013 | Preston, Great Britain
|
Hard (i) | Amy Bowtell
|
7-6 (7-2) 6-1 |
| Winner | 6. | 25 February 2013 |  Surprise, Arizona, United States
|
Hard (o) | Louisa Chirico
|
6-3 6-1 |
Doubles: 13 (4–9)
|
|
| Outcome | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partnering | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
| Runner-up | 5 November 2008 | $10,000 Sunderland, Great Britain (1)
|
Hard (i) | Katharina Brown
|
 Danielle Harmsen Kim Kilsdonk
|
7–6(7–4), 4–6, [4–10] |
| Runner-up | 13 November 2008 | $10,000 Jersey, Great Britain
|
Hard (i) | Elizabeth Thomas
|
Danielle Harmsen Kim Kilsdonk
|
6–7(4–7), 4–6 |
| Runner-up | 5 May 2010 | $10,000 Edinburgh, Great Britain
|
Clay | Tímea Babos
|
Amanda Elliott Jocelyn Rae
|
6–7(5–7), 4–6 |
| Winner | 21 July 2010 | $25,000 Wrexham, Great Britain
|
Hard | Francesca Stephenson
|
 Emma Laine  Sania Mirza
|
2–6, 6–3, [13–11] |
| Runner-up | 3 November 2010 | $10,000 Sunderland, Great Britain (2)
|
Hard (i) | Francesca Stephenson
|
Amanda Elliott Anna Fitzpatrick
|
2–6, 3–6 |
| Runner-up | 15 March 2011 | $10,000 Bath, Great Britain
|
Hard (i) | Emma Laine
|
 Giulia Gatto-Monticone Anastasia Grymalska
|
4–6, 6–2, [6–10] |
| Runner-up | 20 August 2011 |  $10,000 Istanbul, Turkey
|
Hard (i) | Lisa Whybourn
|
Christina Shakovets Ashvarya Shrivastava
|
6–3, 6–1 |
| Winner | 12 November 2011 | $10,000 Loughborough, Great Britain
|
Hard (i) | Francesca Stephenson
|
 Malou Ejdesgaard Amanda Elliott
|
3–6, 6–2, [10–3] |
| Runner-up | 3 April 2012 | $10,000 Antalya, Turkey
|
Hard | Lucy Brown
|
 Lu Jia-Jing Lu Jia Xiang
|
1–6, 0–6 |
| Winner | 16 January 2013 | $10,000 Glasgow, Great Britain
|
Hard (i) | Melanie South
|
Anna Smith Francesca Stephenson
|
7–6(7–5), 6–3 |
| Runner-up | 23 January 2013 | $10,000 Preston, Great Britain
|
Hard (i) | Melanie South
|
Samantha Murray Jade Windley
|
3–6, 6–3, [5–10] |
| Winner | 5 February 2013 | $25,000 Rancho Mirage, California, USA
|
Hard (i) | Melanie South
|
Jan Abaza Louisa Chirico
|
4-6 6-2 [12-10] |
| Runner-up | 22 April 2013 | $25,000 Phuket, Thailand
|
Hard (i) | Melanie South
|
 Nicha Lertpitaksinchai Peangtarn Plipuech
|
6-3 5-7 [11-9] |
References
- ^ "Interview: Nick Bolletieri". www.cnn.com. 01/09/2006.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Biography:MOORE, Tara (GBR)". www.itftennis.com.
- ^ a b c "Activity: MOORE Tara (GBR)". www.itftennis.com.