Helen Crook

Last updated

Helen Crook
Country (sports)Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Born (1971-11-20) 20 November 1971 (age 52)
Essex, England
Height1.75 cm (5 ft 9 in)
PlaysRight handed
College University of South Carolina
Prize money$98,388
Singles
Career record140–161
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 257 (16 July 2001)
Doubles
Career record192–178
Career titles0 WTA, 11 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 155 (24 May 1999)
Grand Slam doubles results
Wimbledon 2R (2003)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon 1R (2001, 2003)

Helen Crook (born 20 November 1971) is a British former professional tennis player.

Contents

Biography

Before turning professional, Crook attended college in the United States, as a journalism student at the University of South Carolina. She formed a doubles partnership in college tennis with another British player, Victoria Davies. The pair made the semifinals of the 1994 NCAA Doubles Championships. [1]

Crook, who was based in Essex, began competing on the international circuit in 1996. All of her WTA Tour and Wimbledon main-draw appearances were in doubles, a format in which she reached No. 155 in the world. She made two WTA Tour doubles quarterfinals, both with regular doubles partner Victoria Davies, at the 1999 Warsaw Cup and the 2001 Birmingham Classic. She featured in the women's doubles at Wimbledon on eight occasions and twice in mixed doubles. Her only grand slam win came when partnering Anna Hawkins at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships, with the pair overcoming Barbara Schett and Patty Schnyder, before being beaten in the second round by Martina Navratilova and Svetlana Kuznetsova. [2]

She was one of the founders of GB Tennis Girls, an organisation supporting women's tennis. [3]

ITF Circuit finals

Singles (0–2)

$50,000 tournaments
$40,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments
ResultNo.DateLocationSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss1.17 January 1996 Miami, United StatesHard Flag of Russia.svg Alina Jidkova 2–6, 5–7
Loss2.23 July 2000 Frinton-on-Sea, Great BritainGrass Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Samantha Smith 3–6, 0–6

Doubles (11–15)

ResultNo.DateLocationSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1.11 July 1994Frinton-on-Sea, Great BritainGrass Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of Russia (1991-1993).svg Natalia Egorova
Flag of Russia (1991-1993).svg Svetlana Parkhomenko
6–3, 6–2
Loss2.10 July 1995 Felixstowe, Great BritainGrass Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of Australia (converted).svg Robyn Mawdsley
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Shannon Peters
1–6, 1–6
Win3.28 August 1995 Istanbul, TurkeyHard Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of Turkey.svg Duygu Akşit Oal
Flag of Hungary.svg Zsofia Csapó
6–4, 6–4
Win4.27 January 1996Istanbul, TurkeyHard (i) Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Frances Hearn
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Leyla Ogan
7–6(3), 7–6(4)
Win5.26 April 1996 Edinburgh, Great BritainClay Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Julie Pullin
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lorna Woodroffe
6–2, 6–0
Loss6.1 June 1996Istanbul, TurkeyHard Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies] Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Emily Bond
Flag of Italy.svg Emanuela Brusati
6–7(4), 4–6
Loss7.11 July 1997Felixstowe, Great BritainGrass Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of South Africa.svg Surina De Beer
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lizzie Jelfs
5–7, 5–7
Win8.26 September 1997 Sunderland, Great BritainCarpet (i) Flag of South Africa.svg Mareze Joubert Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies
Flag of Israel.svg Limor Gabai
6–2, 6–4
Win9.6 December 1997 Pretoria, South AfricaHard Flag of South Africa.svg Mareze Joubert Flag of South Africa.svg Lucinda Gibbs
Flag of South Africa.svg Giselle Swart
6–2, 7–5
Loss10.26 March 1998 Wodonga, AustraliaGrass Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of Australia (converted).svg Lisa McShea
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Alicia Molik
4–6, 4–6
Win11.19 April 1998 Cagnes-sur-Mer, FranceClay Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of the Netherlands.svg Yvette Basting
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Magdalena Zděnovcová
6–3, 6–3
Loss12.31 July 1998 Ilkley, Great BritainGrass Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lizzie Jelfs
Flag of South Africa.svg Mareze Joubert
3–6, 4–6
Loss13.26 September 1998Sunderland, Great BritainHard (i) Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lizzie Jelfs
Flag of South Africa.svg Mareze Joubert
1–6, 1–6
Loss14.3 October 1998 Glasgow, Great BritainHard (i) Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of Denmark.svg Eva Dyrberg
Flag of Germany.svg Lydia Steinbach
4–6, 7–5, 3–6
Loss15.2 April 2000 Pontevedra, SpainHard Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of the Netherlands.svg Natasha Galouza
Flag of Argentina.svg Vanesa Krauth
3–6, 6–2, 2–6
Loss16.23 April 2000 San Luis Potosí, MexicoClay Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of Argentina.svg María Fernanda Landa
Flag of Argentina.svg Romina Ottoboni
4–6, 6–7(7)
Loss17.14 May 2000 Tampico, MexicoHard Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of Mexico.svg Melody Falcó
Flag of Brazil.svg Carla Tiene
4–6, 3–6
Win18.22 July 2000Frinton-on-Sea, Great BritainGrass Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of South Africa.svg Mareze Joubert
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Nicole Sewell
6–2, 6–4
Win19.3 February 2001 Tipton, Great BritainHard (i) Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of Greece.svg Eleni Daniilidou
Flag of Bulgaria.svg Maria Geznenge
2–6, 6–4, 6–4
Loss20.20 May 2001Edinburgh, Great BritainClay Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Victoria Davies Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Julie Pullin
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lorna Woodroffe
2–6, 1–6
Loss21.10 February 2002 Redbridge, Great BritainHard (i) Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Sun Tiantian Flag of Romania.svg Magda Mihalache
Flag of Russia.svg Ekaterina Sysoeva
6–4, 4–6, 4–6
Win22.8 March 2003 Nuevo Laredo, MexicoHard Flag of Greece.svg Christina Zachariadou Flag of Germany.svg Caroline-Ann Basu
Flag of France.svg Kildine Chevalier
6–3, 4–6, 6–2
Win23.22 March 2003 Monterrey, MexicoHard Flag of Greece.svg Christina Zachariadou Flag of Germany.svg Caroline-Ann Basu
Flag of France.svg Kildine Chevalier
6–2, 6–0
Loss24.12 April 2003 Coatzacoalcos, MexicoHard Flag of Greece.svg Christina Zachariadou Flag of Argentina.svg Erica Krauth
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Sarah Stone
4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Loss25.15 February 2004Sunderland, Great BritainHard (i) Flag of Germany.svg Martina Müller Flag of Ireland.svg Claire Curran
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Kim Kilsdonk
4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Loss26.11 July 2004Felixstowe, Great BritainGrass Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Karen Paterson Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Hannah Collin
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Anna Hawkins
4–6, 4–6

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martina Hingis</span> Swiss tennis player

Martina Hingis is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis was the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and to attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks as the singles world No. 1 and 90 weeks as doubles world No. 1, holding both No. 1 rankings simultaneously for 29 weeks. She won five major singles titles, 13 major women's doubles titles, and seven major mixed doubles titles, for a combined total of 25 major titles. In addition, she won the season-ending WTA Finals two times in singles and three in doubles, an Olympic silver medal in doubles, and a record 17 Tier I singles titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martina Navratilova</span> Czech tennis player (born 1956)

Martina Navratilova is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 major women's doubles titles, and 10 major mixed doubles titles, for a combined total of 59 major titles, the most in the Open Era. Alongside Chris Evert, her greatest rival, Navratilova dominated women's tennis for the first two-thirds of the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gigi Fernández</span> American professional tennis player

Beatriz "Gigi" Fernández is a Puerto Rican former professional tennis player. Fernández won 17 major doubles titles and two Olympic gold medals representing the United States, and reached the world No. 1 ranking in doubles. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 17 in 1991. Since retiring from the professional tour in 1997 at the age of 33, Fernández has been a tennis coach and entrepreneur. She now shares her knowledge of doubles with tennis enthusiasts throughout the US by conducting Master Doubles with Gigi Clinics and Doubles Boot Camps. Fernández is the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evonne Goolagong Cawley</span> Australian aboriginal tennis player (born 1951)

Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriela Sabatini</span> Argentine tennis player

Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini is an Argentine former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 titles. In singles, Sabatini won the 1990 US Open, the Tour Finals in 1988 and 1994, and was runner-up at Wimbledon 1991, the 1988 US Open, and the silver medalist at the 1988 Olympics. In doubles, Sabatini won Wimbledon in 1988 partnering Steffi Graf, and reached three French Open finals. Among Open era players who did not reach the world No. 1 ranking, Sabatini has the most wins over reigning world No. 1 ranked players. In 2006, she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and in 2018 Tennis Magazine ranked her as the 20th-greatest female player of the preceding 50 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natasha Zvereva</span> Belarusian tennis player

Natalya "Natasha" Maratovna Zvereva is a former professional tennis player from Belarus. She was the first major athlete in the Soviet Union to demand publicly that she should be able to keep her tournament earnings. Zvereva and her main doubles partner Gigi Fernández are the most successful women's doubles team since Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magdalena Maleeva</span> Bulgarian tennis player

Magdalena Georgieva Maleeva is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. Her best WTA singles ranking was world No. 4. She played on the WTA Tour competing in singles and doubles, from April 1989 to October 2005 and has won ten career singles titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pam Shriver</span> American tennis player (born 1962)

Pamela Howard Shriver is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis broadcaster, pundit, and coach. During the 1980s and 1990s, Shriver won 133 WTA Tour–level titles, including 21 singles titles, 111 women's doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title. This includes 22 major titles, 21 in women's doubles and one in mixed doubles. Shriver also won an Olympic gold medal in women's doubles at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, partnering with Zina Garrison. Shriver and regular doubles partner Martina Navratilova are the only women's pair to complete the Grand Slam in a calendar year, winning all four majors in 1984. She was ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles, and world No. 1 in doubles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Françoise Dürr</span> French tennis player

Françoise Dürr is a retired French tennis player. She won 50 singles titles and over 60 doubles titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Raymond</span> American tennis player (born 1973)

Lisa Raymond is an American former professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. Raymond has eleven major titles to her name: six in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. On June 12, 2000, she reached the world No. 1 ranking in doubles for the first time, becoming the 13th player to reach the milestone. Raymond was ranked No. 1 on five separate occasions in her career over a combined total of 137 weeks and finished as the year-end No. 1 doubles player in both 2001 and 2006. She currently holds the record of most doubles match wins (860) and most doubles matches played (1,206) in WTA history, and earned more than $10 million in prize money in her career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelique Widjaja</span> Indonesian tennis player

Angelique Widjaja is a retired Indonesian professional tennis player. She won the junior championships at Wimbledon in 2001, defeating Dinara Safina, and the 2002 junior French Open defeating Ashley Harkelroad. She reached a peak of No. 55 in the WTA singles rankings in March 2003, and a peak of No. 15 in the doubles rankings in February 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cara Black</span> Zimbabwean tennis player

Cara Cavell Black is a Zimbabwean former professional tennis player. Black was primarily a doubles specialist, winning 60 WTA Tour and 11 ITF doubles titles. A former doubles world No. 1, she won ten major titles. By winning the 2010 Australian Open mixed doubles title, Black became the third woman in the Open Era to complete the career Grand Slam in mixed doubles. Having also won one singles title on the WTA Tour, Black peaked at world No. 31 in the singles rankings in March 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betty Stöve</span> Dutch tennis player (born 1945)

Betty Flippina Stöve is a Dutch former professional tennis player. She is best remembered for reaching the ladies' singles final, the ladies' doubles final and the mixed doubles final during the same year at Wimbledon in 1977. She also won ten Grand Slam titles in women's doubles and mixed doubles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Květa Peschke</span> Czech tennis player

Květoslava Peschke is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles.

Meredith McGrath is a former professional tennis player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 WTA Tour</span> Womens tennis circuit

The WTA Tour is the elite tour for women's professional tennis organized by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). The 2011 WTA Tour includes the Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Premier tournaments, the WTA International tournaments, the Fed Cup, the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions and the WTA Championships.

Victoria Davies is a British former professional tennis player.

Gail Glasgow is an American former professional tennis player. She also competed under her maiden name Gail Hansen and briefly as Gail Elliott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 WTA Tour</span> Womens tennis circuit

The 2022 WTA Tour was the global elite women's professional tennis circuit organized by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2022 tennis season. The 2022 WTA Tour calendar comprised the Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA 1000 tournaments, the WTA 500 tournaments, the WTA 250 tournaments, the Billie Jean King Cup, and the year-end championships.

References

  1. "USC Women's Tennis Gearing Up For NCAA Regionals". CBS Sports Network . 8 May 2006. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  2. "Relentless Navratilova has British pair in awe". The Daily Telegraph . 28 June 2003. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  3. "Casting the net in hope of 'filling gaps in system'" . The Independent . 26 June 2004. Archived from the original on 9 May 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2018.