Wendy Turnbull
Wendy Turnbull was born on November 26, 1952, in Australia. The retired player was also known to have the name of ‘Rabbit’ which was associated with the speed she had in the courts.
Her professional career started in the year 1975. She was the only player to be appointed to the International Tennis Federation Olympic Committee in the year 1991. Moreover, her achievements are also used to serve the ITF’s Fed Cup committee.
In Brisbane, a public park was inaugurated in the name of Wendy Turnbull in 1993. In 1984, Turnbull was appointed as a member of the Order of the British Empire. Her achievements also led her to enter the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in the year 2009.
Turnbull reached the finals of the Grand Slam Singles Championships and was ranked to be the third-best player for the period of 1977 to 1985. The singles and doubles titles at the WTA tour is also a star in her career history.
She was also a successful player in doubles tournaments and has the title to earn 9 Grand Slam Ladies Doubles as well as Mixed Doubles t the Wimbledon, US Open, and French Open. She also managed to reach the finals of the three tournaments in which she lost the singles but, won Mixed Doubles and Ladies Doubles Championship.
Her achievements include 55 doubles and 13 singles titles. She also won a Bronze medal in the Seoul Olympics held in 1988 in the Ladies Doubles match. In 1983, she was awarded as Australia’s “Sportswoman of the Year”.
Zina Garrison
Zina Garrison was born on the 16th of November, 1963 in the city of Houston, Texas. The tennis player started her professional career in the United States. She got married to Willard Jackson in 1989 but, it ended with a divorce in the year 1997.
After retirement, Garrison performed her duties as a commentator on television and also played a very active role in tennis communities as well. The Zina Garrison Foundation for the Homeless was established in the year 1988 after which she also became a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. The Zina Garrison All Court Tennis Program was also founded in 1992 in Houston which supported inter-city tennis tournaments.
The tennis player started playing at an early age of 10 and her success as a junior player soon led her to establish a professional career. She won the National Girls 18s title at the age of 14. She also won the US Open and the Wimbledon Championship junior titles after which she was ranked on the top position among the world players.
In 1982 she started her professional career during which she won 20 doubles titles and 14 singles top-level titles. Her career highlight was the Wimbledon Championship of 1990.
The player defeated the French Open champion, Monica Seles, in the quarter-final matches as well as the world’s No. 1 tennis player Steffi Graf in the semi-final matches which led her to the singles final of the Grand Slam. Her career-high ranking was No. 4 in the singles matches and retired from the tennis world in the year 1996.
