The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tennis. The WTA's corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida, with its European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing.
The French Open, also known as Roland-Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and venue are named after the French aviator Roland Garros. The French Open is the premier clay court championship in the world and the only Grand Slam tournament currently held on this surface. It is chronologically the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments, the other three are the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Until 1975, the French Open was the only major tournament not played on grass. Between the seven rounds needed for a championship, the clay surface characteristics, and the best-of-five-set men's singles matches, the French Open is widely regarded as the most physically demanding tennis tournament in the world.
Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf is a German former professional tennis player. Widely referred to as one of the greatest professional tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, the second-most since the start of the Open Era in 1968 and third-most of all-time. In 1988, Graf became the first tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam by winning all four major singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. Furthermore, she is the only tennis player, male or female, to have won each major tournament at least four times.
The Grand Slam in tennis is the achievement of winning all four major championships in one discipline in the same calendar year, also referred to as the "Calendar-year Grand Slam" or "Calendar Slam". In doubles, a team may accomplish the Grand Slam playing together or a player may achieve it with different partners. Winning all four major championships consecutively but not within the same calendar year is referred to as a "non-calendar-year Grand Slam", while winning the four majors at any point during the course of a career is known as a "Career Grand Slam".
Christine Marie Evert, known as Chris Evert Lloyd from 1979 to 1987, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Evert won 18 major singles titles, including a record seven French Open titles and a joint-record six US Open titles. She was ranked world No. 1 for 260 weeks, and was the year-end world No. 1 singles player seven times. Alongside Martina Navratilova, her greatest rival, Evert dominated women's tennis in the 1970s and 1980s.
Hana Mandlíková is a former professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia who later obtained Australian citizenship. During her career, she won four Grand Slam singles titles: the 1980 Australian Open, 1981 French Open, 1985 US Open, and the 1987 Australian Open. She was also the runner-up at four Grand Slam singles events, including the Wimbledon finals of 1981 and 1986, and won one Grand Slam women's doubles title, at the 1989 US Open with Martina Navratilova. Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1994, she is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
Helena Suková is a former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. During her career, she won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, 9 of them in women's doubles and 5 of them in mixed doubles. She also was a four-time Grand Slam singles runner-up and won 10 singles titles and 69 doubles titles.
Gisele Miró is a former tennis player from Brazil.
Isabelle Demongeot is a former professional tennis player from France, who turned professional on 1 May 1983. She lived in Saint-Tropez in the French Riviera in the early stages of her career and later settled further south in Gassin.
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sport with more complex rules. Most rules of (lawn) tennis derive from this precursor and it is reasonable to see both sports as variations of the same game. Most historians believe that tennis was originated in the monastic cloisters in northern France in the 12th century, but the ball was then struck with the palm of the hand; hence, the name jeu de paume. It was not until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called "tennis." It was popular in England and France, and Henry VIII of England was a big fan of the game, now referred to as real tennis.
Mariaan de Swardt is a former professional tennis player from South Africa, who was active from 1988 to 2001. She twice represented her native country at the Summer Olympics, in 1992 and 1996, and was a member of the South Africa Fed Cup team in 1992 and from 1994 to 1997. In 2006, de Swardt became a U.S. citizen.
Jorge Lozano is a retired professional tennis player from Mexico. He reached his highest doubles ranking of World No. 4 in August 1988. His highest singles ranking was World No. 51, achieved the following month. During his career, he won two mixed doubles titles at the French Open: in 1988 with Lori McNeil and in 1990 with Arantxa Sánchez. He reached the round of 16 in singles at the 1988 US Open and also the semifinal in doubles that same year. Qualified twice for the Doubles Masters at the Royal Albert Hall in London and reached the semifinals in 1988. In his career, he won nine doubles titles, but no singles titles. He turned professional in 1986, and in his career He was the first player to be beaten by Pete Sampras in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at the French Open in 1989. In Davis Cup play, represented Mexico for 15 years, 1981–1995, won 12 doubles matches, and lost 12 as well. He lost 11 singles matches, and won 8, making his overall win / loss record at the Davis Cup 20–23. Lozano won his first title at Forest Hills in 1988, with his partner Todd Witsken, and won his last at Athens in 1993. He resides in Guadalajara, Mexico where he directs a tennis academy for kids and also coaches the men and women tennis team at the University Tec de Monterrey. He was the captain of the Mexican Davis Cup Team from 2007 to 2014. He is now the Athletic Director for the University Tec de Monterrey, campus Guadalajara.
Niege Dias is a former professional tennis player from Brazil. She also competed for the Brazil Fed Cup team from 1985 to 1988.
Natasha Zvereva defeated Leila Meskhi in the final, 2–6, 6–2, 9–7 to win the girls' singles tennis title at the 1986 Wimbledon Championships.
Michelle Jaggard and Lisa O'Neill defeated Leila Meskhi and Natasha Zvereva in the final, 7–6(7–3), 6–7(4–7), 6–4 to win the girls' doubles tennis title at the 1986 Wimbledon Championships.
Maïder Laval is a former professional tennis player from France.
The 2020 WTA Tour was the elite professional tennis circuit organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2020 tennis season. The 2020 WTA Tour calendar originally comprised the Grand Slam tournaments supervised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the WTA Premier tournaments, the WTA International tournaments, the Fed Cup, and the year-end championships.
Players who neither had high enough rankings nor received wild cards to enter the main draw of the annual French Open Tennis Championships participated in a qualifying tournament held in the week before the event.
Yvonne Der Kinderen is a Dutch former professional tennis player.
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