Abigail Spears

Abigail Spears

Spears at the 2009 US Open
Country (sports)	United States
Born	(1981-07-12) July 12, 1981 (age 44) San Diego, California, U.S.
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	October 2000
Retired	2021
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Larry Willens
Prize money	$2,994,112
Singles
Career record	285–262
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 66 (June 6, 2005)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (2005)
French Open	1R (2005)
Wimbledon	1R (2005)
US Open	1R (2004, 2005)
Doubles
Career record	555–411
Career titles	21
Highest ranking	No. 10 (March 2, 2015)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	SF (2014)
French Open	3R (2004)
Wimbledon	SF (2015, 2016, 2018)
US Open	QF (2008)
Mixed doubles
Career titles	1
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	W (2017)
French Open	QF (2018)
Wimbledon	QF (2018)
US Open	F (2013, 2014)
Last updated on: February 3, 2020.

Abigail Michal Spears (born July 12, 1981) ^[1] is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Spears won 21 double titles including the 2017 Australian Open.

Spears started playing tennis in 1988 when she was 7 years old, and turned professional in 2000. ^[2] Spears and compatriot, Raquel Kops-Jones, were one of the most successful doubles team of the 2012 season, winning four tour titles and reaching the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. In 2017, Spears partnered with Juan Sebastián Cabal at the Australian Open to win the mixed-doubles tournament. After being suspended for much of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Spears retired in September 2021.

Biography

July 12, 1981 Abigail Spears was born in San Diego, California, she is a distant relation of the well known singer Britney Spears.

2000–2010

Spears turned professional in 2000. ^[2] She reached the third round at the 2005 Australian Open ^[3] and the first round at the 2005 French Open, 2005 Wimbledon tournament (where she also reached the third round in the doubles tournament with Lisa McShea), and the 2005 US Open. ^{[4] [5]} She reached the third round at the 2008 Wimbledon doubles tournament with Raquel Kops-Jones, and the duo bettered that result by reaching the quarterfinals at the 2008 US Open.

Spears also qualified in singles for the US Open twice. ^[6] She achieved a singles ranking of world No. 66 on June 6, 2005. Her highest doubles ranking was world No. 11 on June 24, 2013. Spears has not won a WTA singles title, but as of the end of December 2018 she has won 21 WTA doubles titles. ^[2] She participated in the US Open doubles draw eleven times between 1998 and 2010. ^[6]

2010-2020

Spears and compatriot Raquel Kops-Jones were one of the most successful doubles team of the 2012 season, winning four titles at Carlsbad, Seoul, Tokyo and Osaka. The pair also reached two other finals as well as the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

2017 was expected to be Spears' farewell year on tour. ^[7] At the Australian Open, she partnered with Juan Sebastián Cabal to win the mixed-doubles tournament. In the final, they defeated the second-seeded team of Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig in straight sets. ^[8] The American-Colombian duo recovered from a 1–4 deficit in the second set to reel off five straight games to clinch the title. It was a revenge match for Spears, having lost to Mirza the last time she made it to a Grand Slam final losing 9–11 in the super tiebreak to Mirza and Bruno Soares at the 2014 US Open.

Retirement

Spears was suspended for 22 months doping offences from 7 November 2019 until 6 September 2021. ^{[9] [10]} She retired from the pro tour on 16 September 2021. ^[11]

In 2023, Spears played at the Peak Tennis Pro Am charity event in Missoula, Montana along with others such as Mats Wilander. ^[12] In April 2024, Spears played at annual Gootter-Jensen charity event in Tucson along with Kim Clijsters and others. ^[13]

Personal life

Aside from tennis, Spears enjoys watching movies and going to the beach to surf or play beach volleyball. Her idols were Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. ^[2]

Significant finals

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2013	US Open	Hard	Santiago González	Andrea Hlaváčková Max Mirnyi	6–7(5–7), 3–6
Loss	2014	US Open	Hard	Santiago González	Sania Mirza Bruno Soares	1–6, 6–2, [9–11]
Win	2017	Australian Open	Hard	Juan Sebastián Cabal	Sania Mirza Ivan Dodig	6–2, 6–4

Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 finals

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2012	Doha	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Liezel Huber Lisa Raymond	3–6, 1–6
Win	2012	Tokyo	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Květa Peschke	6–1, 6–4
Win	2014	Cincinnati	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Tímea Babos Kristina Mladenovic	6–1, 2–0 ret.

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Winner — Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tour Championships (0–0)
Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0)
Tier II / Premier (0–0)
Tier III, IV & V / International (0–1)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1.	Nov 2004	Bell Challenge, Quebec City, Canada	Hard	Martina Suchá	5–7, 6–3, 2–6

Doubles: 31 (21 titles, 10 runner-ups)

Winner — Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tour Championships (0–0)
Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (2–1)
Tier II / Premier (8–5)
Tier III, IV & V / International (11–4)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	Jan 2003	Auckland Open, New Zealand	Hard	Teryn Ashley	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	6–2, 2–6, 6–0
Win	2.	Aug 2004	Odlum Brown Vancouver Open, Canada	Hard	Bethanie Mattek	Els Callens Anna-Lena Grönefeld	6–3, 6–3
Loss	1.	Feb 2005	Cellular South Cup, United States	Hard	Laura Granville	Yuka Yoshida Miho Saeki	3–6, 4–6
Win	3.	Jul 2005	Western & Southern Women's Open, United States	Hard	Laura Granville	Květa Peschke María Emilia Salerni	3–6, 6–2, 6–4
Win	4.	May 2009	Estoril Open, Portugal	Clay	Raquel Kops-Jones	Sharon Fichman Katalin Marosi	2–6, 6–3, [10–5]
Loss	2.	Jun 2009	Aegon Classic, Birmingham, Great Britain	Grass	Raquel Kops-Jones	Cara Black Liezel Huber	1–6, 4–6
Win	5.	Sep 2009	Hansol Korea Open, Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Chan Yung-jan	Carly Gullickson Nicole Kriz	6–3, 6–4
Loss	3.	Oct 2009	HP Open, Osaka, Japan	Hard	Chanelle Scheepers	Lisa Raymond Chuang Chia-jung	2–6, 4–6
Loss	4.	Aug 2011	Mercury Insurance Open, San Diego, United States	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	0–6, 2–6
Win	6.	Sep 2011	Bell Challenge, Quebec City	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Jamie Hampton Anna Tatishvili	6–0, 3–6, [10–6]
Loss	5.	Jan 2012	Brisbane International, Australia	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Nuria Llagostera Vives Arantxa Parra Santonja	6–7(2–7), 6–7(2–7)
Loss	6.	Feb 2012	Qatar Ladies Open, Doha	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Liezel Huber Lisa Raymond	3–6, 1–6
Win	7.	Jul 2012	Mercury Insurance Open, Carlsbad, United States	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Vania King Nadia Petrova	6–2, 6–4
Win	8.	Sep 2012	Hansol Korea Open, Seoul	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Akgul Amanmuradova Vania King	2–6, 6–2, [10–8]
Win	9.	Sep 2012	Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Květa Peschke	6–1, 6–4
Win	10.	Oct 2012	HP Open, Osaka	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Kimiko Date-Krumm Heather Watson	6–1, 6–4
Win	11.	Jul 2013	Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, United States	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Julia Görges Darija Jurak	6–2, 7–6(7–4)
Win	12.	Aug 2013	Southern California Open, Carlsbad, United States	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Chan Hao-ching Janette Husárová	6–4, 6–1
Loss	7.	Sep 2013	KDB Korea Open, Seoul	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Chan Chin-wei Xu Yifan	5–7, 3–6
Loss	8.	Feb 2014	Dubai Tennis Championships, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Alla Kudryavtseva Anastasia Rodionova	2–6, 7–5, [8–10]
Win	13.	Jun 2014	Aegon Classic, Birmingham	Grass	Raquel Kops-Jones	Ashleigh Barty Casey Dellacqua	7–6(7–1), 6–1
Win	14.	Aug 2014	Cincinnati Masters, United States	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Tímea Babos Kristina Mladenovic	6–1, 2–0 ret.
Loss	9.	Jan 2015	Apia International Sydney, Australia	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Sania Mirza	3–6, 3–6
Win	15.	Feb 2015	Qatar Total Open, Doha	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Hsieh Su-wei Sania Mirza	6–4, 6–4
Win	16.	Jun 2015	Aegon Nottingham Open, Great Britain	Grass	Raquel Kops-Jones	Jocelyn Rae Anna Smith	3–6, 6–3, [11–9]
Win	17.	Oct 2015	Generali Ladies Linz, Austria	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	6–3, 7–5
Win	18.	Jul 2016	Bank of the West Classic, Stanford	Hard	Raquel Atawo	Darija Jurak Anastasia Rodionova	6–3, 6–4
Win	19.	Feb 2017	Qatar Total Open, Doha	Hard	Katarina Srebotnik	Olga Savchuk Yaroslava Shvedova	6–3, 7–6(9–7)
Loss	10.	Apr 2017	Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany	Clay (i)	Katarina Srebotnik	Raquel Atawo Jeļena Ostapenko	4–6, 4–6
Win	20.	Aug 2017	Bank of the West Classic, Stanford	Hard	CoCo Vandeweghe	Alizé Cornet Alicja Rosolska	6–2, 6–3
Win	21.	Jun 2018	Nottingham Open, Great Britain	Grass	Alicja Rosolska	Mihaela Buzărnescu Heather Watson	6–3, 7–6(7–5)

Grand Slam performance timelines

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

DNQ

A

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles

Tournament	2004	2005	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	3R	0 / 1	2–1
French Open	A	1R	0 / 1	0–1
Wimbledon	A	1R	0 / 1	0–1
US Open	1R	1R	0 / 2	0–2
Win–loss	0–1	2–4	0 / 5	2–5

Doubles

Tournament	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	A	2R	1R	3R	1R	2R	SF	QF	2R	1R	2R	2R	0 / 16	15–16
French Open	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	3R	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	2R	2R	1R	3R	0 / 14	9–14
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	1R	3R	1R	A	3R	1R	1R	2R	QF	3R	3R	SF	SF	1R	SF	3R	0 / 17	26–17
US Open	1R	1R	A	1R	2R	2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	QF	1R	1R	1R	3R	2R	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	2R	0 / 21	11–21
Win–loss	0–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–4	2–4	2–4	2–3	0–3	0–1	5–2	1–4	0–4	3–4	6–4	4–4	7–4	9–4	6–4	1–4	5–4	6–4	0 / 68	61–68
WTA Premier Mandatory tournaments
Indian Wells	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	2R	A	A	A	2R	2R	2R	1R	1R	2R	1R	QF	1R	1R	2R	0 / 14	8–14
Miami	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q2	A	A	A	QF	2R	1R	1R	1R	SF	1R	1R	1R	1R	QF	0 / 11	8–11
Madrid	Not Held											1R	1R	1R	1R	QF	QF	2R	1R	1R	QF	1R	0 / 11	7–11
Beijing	Not Held		Not Tier I									A	A	QF	QF	QF	QF	1R	1R	1R	QF	1R	0 / 9	10–9

References

1. "Abigail Spears: Profile". University of California, Los Angeles. Archived from the original on June 9, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
2. "Abigail Spears: Info". Women's Tennis Association. Archived from the original on December 7, 2010. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
3. Dillman, Lisa (January 21, 2005). "Nerves Have Been Her Toughest Opponent". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
4. "Abigail Spears: Stats". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
5. "Wimbledon 2005 Ladies' Doubles Championship" (PDF). Women's Tennis Association. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
6. "Women's Bios: Abigail Spears". US Open. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
7. "Spears, Cabal win mixed doubles, continue 30s theme in Oz". USA Today. Melbourne. The Associated Press. January 29, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2017. Spears was striving to win her first Grand Slam title in her farewell year. She plans to retire at the end of this season after a career in which she was twice runner-up in mixed doubles finals with Mexican Santiago González at the U.S. Open in 2013 and 2014.
8. "Abigail Spears, Juan Sebastian Cabal win mixed doubles title in Melbourne". ESPN. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
9. "ITF Tennis – ANTIDOPING". Archived from the original on October 22, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
10. "Transactions". Waco Tribune-Herald. February 6, 2020. p. 2B. Retrieved April 27, 2025.
11. ITIA - Retired Players List
12. Speltz, Bill (September 23, 2023). "Mats Wilander in Missoula for Charity Event" . Ravalli Republic at Newspapers.com. pp. B1, B3. Retrieved April 27, 2025.
13. "Tennis Event Helps Get Defibrillators in Place" . Arizona Daily Star at Newspapers.com. April 9, 2024. p. A13. Retrieved April 27, 2025.

External links

• Abigail Spears at the Women's Tennis Association
• Abigail Spears at the International Tennis Federation