Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce (born January 15, 1975, in Montreal,
Canada) is a professional tennis player. She has appeared in six
Grand Slam singles finals during her career – winning two of them –
and also claimed two Grand Slam doubles titles.
Pierce was born in Montreal while her French mother and American
father were on a trip to the city, but she has never lived in
Canada.
She was raised in the United States and lives in Bradenton,
Florida, but also has French citizenship and has represented France
in international tennis competitions, apparently due to her
disappointment with the American Federation of Tennis in its
preferential treatment and sponsoring of Jennifer Capriati as an up
and coming youth player.
Pierce was introduced to tennis at the age of 10 by her father Jim
Pierce. Just two years later, she won the US national 12-and-under
junior title. In 1989, she became the youngest American player to
make her debut on the professional tour, aged 14 years and 2 months.
(This record was broken the following year by Jennifer Capriati.)
During her first few years on the tour, Pierce was known more for
the behaviour of her father than her performances on court. Jim
Pierce, who also coached Mary, often shouted abuse at her opponents
during matches.
On one occasion when he was sitting in the stands,
he famously screamed: "Mary, kill the bitch!" He was also reportedly
often verbally and physically abusive to Mary during practice
sessions and after defeats. Jim Pierce was ejected from the French
Open in 1993 after he punched a spectator, following which he was
banned from all Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour events until
1998.
The incident also prompted the WTA to pass a new rule
(commonly referred to as the "Jim Pierce Rule") which prohibits
abusive conduct on the part of players, coaches and relatives. Mary
dropped her father as her coach in 1993 and took out a restraining
order against him.
A few weeks later, he got into a fight with her
bodyguard at a hotel where she was staying. He then sued her
claiming that he had been promised 25% of her earnings as a tennis
player, and she paid him US$500,000 to drop the suit and leave her
alone. She withdrew from Wimbledon in 1994 after a British tabloid
newspaper threatened to smuggle her father into the grounds.
Mary in Family Circle Cup 2001In 1994, Pierce reached her first
Grand Slam final at the French Open in record-breaking style. She
became first player to reach championship's fourth round while
dropping only two games.
She conceded just 10 games during her route
to the final, which included a 6-2, 6-2 thrashing of World No. 1 Steffi Graf in the semi-finals. In the final she lost 6-4, 6-4 to
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.
In 1995, Pierce won her first Grand Slam title by beating Sánchez
Vicario 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Australian Open. She reached
her career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 that year.
In 1997, Pierce was back in the Australian Open singles final, where
she lost 6-2, 6-2 to Martina Hingis. She also lost in that year's
WTA Tour Championships final to Jana Novotná. Pierce was a member of
the French team which won the 1997 Fed Cup.
Pierce won her second Grand Slam singles title and her first Grand
Slam doubles title at the French Open in 2000. In the singles final,
she defeated Conchita Martínez 6-2, 7-5 to become the first
Frenchwoman to claim the title since Francoise Durr in 1967. And she
partnered Martina Hingis to win the women's doubles crown (the pair
had also finished runners-up at the Australian Open earlier that
year).
Mary In 2002Pierce helped France win the Fed Cup for a second time
in 2003.
In 2004, Pierce won her first title since the 2000 French Open at
's-Hertogenbosch, to bring her career total to 16 singles titles.
Pierce was engaged for a period to former Major League Baseball
player Roberto Alomar. However the two stars are no longer together.
Following her split from her father in 1993, Pierce was coached by
Nick Bollettieri, whose tennis academy she had briefly attended as a
teenager in 1988. Her brother David is currently her regular coach.
She has also recently become reconciled with father Jim, and
occasionally does practice sessions with him.
Pierce in 2005
Critics
Grand Slam Wins (2)
Grand Slam Runner-ups (4)
Grand Slam Doubles Wins (2)
Pierce in 2005
Pierce reached the French Open
singles final for a third time, where she lost 6-1, 6-1 to Justine Henin-Hardenne. She confirmed that the appearance, which followed
victories over higher-ranked players including No. 1 Lindsay
Davenport, was no fluke when she reached the quarter-finals of the
2005 Wimbledon tournament for the first time since 1996.
Pierce
faced Venus Williams in the quarter-final and lost the match after a
thrilling second set tiebreak consisting of 22 points. Pierce also
won the mixed-doubles title at Wimbledon, partnering Mahesh Bhupathi.
On August 7, Pierce won her first singles title of the year at San
Diego, defeating Ai Sugiyama in the final.
Pierce then reached the
final of the US Open. In the fourth round, she defeated Justine Henin-Hardenne for the first time in her career and avenged her
French Open final defeat by winning 6-3, 6-4. In the quater-finals,
Pierce outclassed third seed Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-1 to reach her
first US Open semi-final. After the victory Pierce remarked: "I'm 30
and I have been on the tour for 17 years and there are still firsts
for me. That's pretty amazing."
She reached the final by defeating
Elena Dementieva 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. In the final, she lost to Kim
Clijsters 6-3, 6-1. Her great form brought her to her third big
final of 2005: a Tier 1 event at Moscow (Kremlin Cup). The win in
Moscow secured her spot at the WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles
where the top 8 players in the world compete for the luxurious 1st
place prize of 1 Million dollars.
She won her three group matches
against Clijsters in three sets, Mauresmo in three sets and
Dementieva in straight sets. In the semi-final Pierce beat
top-ranked Lindsay Davenport in an intense 2 tie-breakers
7-6(5),7-6(6).
Pierce's return to form in 2005 has been one of the most pleasantly
surprising tennis stories of the year.
In the 1990's, especially before 1998 when Williams sisters appeared
on scene, most tennis critics found a lot of time to criticize Mary
for her muscular physique.
She was often ridiculed by American
journalists for possessing a manly physique. All criticism floated
to sea when Williams sisters came into focus and they were never
ridiculed for a muscular and macho body in fear of reprisal for
being targeted by American media or for fear of inciting any thing
racial.
Grand Slam Wins (2)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1995 Australian Open Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 6-3, 6-2
2000 French Open Conchita Martínez 6-2, 7-5
Singles Runner-ups (4)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1994 French Open Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6-4, 6-4
1997 Australian Open Martina Hingis 6-2, 6-2
2005 French Open Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-1, 6-1
2005 US Open Kim Clijsters 6-3, 6-1
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2000 French Open Pascual/Suarez 6-2, 6-4
(ladies doubles
w. Martina Hingis)
2005 Wimbledon Hanley/Perebiynis 6-4, 6-2
(mixed-doubles
w. Mahesh Bhupathi)
Credits
: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the
Wikipedia
article "Mary Pierce".
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