Beth Herr

Beth Herr
Country (sports)  United States
Born (1964-05-28) May 28, 1964
Turned pro 1981
Retired 1990
Prize money US$263,069
Singles
Career record 71–92
Highest ranking No. 31 (15 August 1983)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 1R (1983, 1984, 1989)
French Open 3R (1982)
Wimbledon 3R (1987)
US Open 3R (1982)
Doubles
Career record 102–82
Highest ranking No. 26 (10 October 1988)
Grand Slam Doubles results
US Open QF (1982)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
French Open SF (1986)
Wimbledon QF (1988)

Beth Herr (born May 28, 1964) is an American tennis player from Centerville, Ohio, where she was a two-time high school Singles State Champion (80-81), and was the 1983 NCAA singles champion.[1]

College

Beth Herr became the number 1 junior tennis player in the world at age 16. Upon graduation from Centerville High School, she was the #1 college recruit in 1982 and went on to play for the University of Southern California, where she won the NCAA singles title and team title in her freshman year. She beat Clemson's Gigi Fernández 7–6 in the third set after being down a match point to win the NCAA singles final.[2]

Junior grand slams

In 1982, Beth Herr won the 1982 French Open girls' doubles championship with Janet Lagasse.,[3] Beth Herr also Wimbledon girls' doubles and US Open girls' doubles with Penny Barg. She also won the US Open girls' singles in the same year.

Professional career

Beth Herr cut short college and went directly into professional tennis after the NCAA Championship and played on tour for 11 years with wins over Hana Mandlíková and Mary Joe Fernandez. She lost a match to Billie Jean King at Wimbledon 8–6 in the third round.[4] Commentators on HBO Breakfast at Wimbledon mentioned her ability to hit numerous swinging volleys out of the air for winners as it was something that had not been done before especially by a female.

WTA career finals

LegendSinglesDoubles
Grand Slam0–00–0
WTA Championships0–00–0
Tier I0–00–0
Tier II0–00–0
Tier III0–02–0
Tier IV & V1–00–3

Singles (1 runners-up)

Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Winner 1. 24 March 1986 Virginia Slims of Arizona, Phoenix Clay United States Ann Henricksson 6–0, 3–6, 7–5

Personal life

After tennis she finished her undergraduate degree at UCLA and then went to law school at UCLA. She married Tennis Channel founder Steve Bellamy[5] and after a short stint as a lawyer at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, she stopped working to look after their 4 children.

She later went on to win the US Open and World Championships of paddle tennis and teamed with Scotty Freedman to become the greatest Mixed Doubles team in the sports 112-year history they were undefeated as a team from 2000 – 2007.

References

  1. http://www.ohsaa.org/sports/records/gterecrd.pdf
  2. "Beth Herr Wins". The New York Times. 1983-05-23. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  3. UBItennis Tomorrow’s Stars Archived 28 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. Miller, Geoffrey (1983-06-23). "King survives scare from Herr". The Daily Collegian. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  5. Associated Press (2008-07-22). "Several tennis pros to play in unisex tourney". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2009-02-07.



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