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Jo Durie

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Jo Durie
Durie playing in the Ladies' Invitation Doubles final at Wimbledon in 2004
Country (sports)United Kingdom Great Britain
ResidenceLondon, England
Born (1960-07-27) 27 July 1960 (age 64)
Bristol, England
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro1977
Retired1995
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,224,016
Singles
Career record321–305
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 5 (9 July 1984)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQF (1983)
French OpenSF (1983)
WimbledonQF (1984)
US OpenSF (1983)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals1R (1984)
Doubles
Career record274–199
Career titles5
Highest rankingNo. 9 (December 1983)[1]
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenSF (1985)
French OpenSF (1983)
WimbledonSF (1983, 1984)
US OpenQF (1987, 1991)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour FinalsF (1984)
Career titles2
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenW (1991)
WimbledonW (1987)
US OpenSF (1991)
Team competitions
Fed CupF (1981)

Joanna Mary Durie (born 27 July 1960) is a former world No. 5 tennis player from the United Kingdom. During her career, she also reached No. 9 in doubles, and won two Grand Slam titles, both in the mixed doubles with Jeremy Bates.

Born in Bristol, England, Jo Durie was the last British woman to reach the semifinal of a Grand Slam tournament until Johanna Konta reached the semifinal of the 2016 Australian Open,[2] and the last British woman to win a major title in any discipline, until Heather Watson won the 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Henri Kontinen.

Singles career

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After a successful junior career which included winning junior British titles on all three surfaces (grass, hard court and indoor) in 1976; Jo Durie turned professional in 1977, and played her first match at Wimbledon that year against the eventual champion Virginia Wade. In 1980 Durie suffered a major back injury which kept her out of the game for eight months. However, she made a successful return to the woman's tennis circuit in 1981, reaching the fourth round of the singles at Wimbledon and the US Open and climbing to her highest singles ranking so far of 31.[3]

Her most successful year as a singles player was 1983, ending the season at No. 6 in the world rankings and on the prize money leader board. As an unseeded player Durie reached the semifinals of the French Open, beating both Pam Shriver and Tracy Austin along the way.[4] Later that year she made another Grand Slam singles semifinal appearance at the US Open, where she eventually lost to Chris Evert in straight sets. Her dramatic rise up the singles rankings that year ended with a quarterfinal at the Australian Open in December. Durie's success as a singles player during 1983 gained her a coveted place at the 1984 WTA Tour Championship as the fifth seed.

Her most successful year at Wimbledon as a singles player came in 1984 when she reached the quarterfinals, beating a 15-year-old Steffi Graf in a memorable fourth-round match. It was just after Wimbledon that she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5.

She won two top-level WTA singles titles (both in 1983) at Mahwah, New Jersey and Sydney, and had career wins over Steffi Graf, Zina Garrison, Pam Shriver, Hana Mandlíková, and Tracy Austin. Further back injuries in 1989 led to a remodeling of her service action. Durie made her last appearance in a WTA tour singles final at the Virginia Slims of Newport tournament in 1990. In 1991 at the age of 30, and one of the oldest singles competitors that year, she had another successful run to the fourth round of the US Open.

She was ranked the No. 1 British player for most of her career. She won the British National Singles title a record seven times. She was the second British woman player after Virginia Wade to win $1 million in prize money.

Doubles career

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Partnering her fellow British player Jeremy Bates, Durie won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1987,[5] the first British doubles team to win the title for fifty-one years. In 1991 they became the first British doubles team ever to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title.[4] As of 2013 both of these records still stand. As a team Bates and Durie reached an additional three mixed doubles quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1986, 1990 and 1993. They also reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in 1992 as defending champions.

Durie would go on to win five woman's doubles titles from eighteen finals during her career. Her most successful year as a doubles player, aside from the Grand Slams in 1987 and 1991 was in 1983, when she reached six finals, winning three titles. Durie also reached the semifinals of the women's doubles at the French Open and Wimbledon. By virtue of this success she gained a place at the 1984 WTA Tour Championship in doubles, and reached the final partnering Ann Kiyomura.[6]

Durie won the British National Doubles title a record nine times.

Team tennis

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Durie was a stalwart member of the British Wightman Cup (1979, 1981–89), British Federation Cup (1981–95) and British European Cup teams (1989–92). Durie was the youngest member of the British Federation Cup team, alongside Virginia Wade and Sue Barker, which reached the team final in 1981. Durie led the British team to victory in the European Championship in Prague in 1992.

Retirement

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Durie retired from competitive tennis at the Wimbledon Championships in 1995, (her 18th appearance at the Championships), and marked it with a memorable performance. After three successive operations on her left knee, Durie went into the Championships ranked No. 326 in the world, yet reached the second round of the ladies' singles. She beat France's Alexia Dechaume-Balleret, ranked No. 85 in the world, in straight sets in the first round. Her second round, and last singles match at Wimbledon, was against Jana Novotná. Her last match at Wimbledon was a mixed doubles match on Centre Court, where she played alongside her long-standing partner Jeremy Bates.

She is one of the very few players to have a winning record against Steffi Graf and leads 4–3 in head-to-heads.[7] Note, however, that all of her wins against Graf were before or during 1985, when Graf was typically a much lower-ranked player during the initial stages of her career.

After retiring from the professional tour, Durie had heart surgery to rectify a problem for which she had originally been prescribed Beta blockers early in her career. She did not take the prescribed medication, as she didn't feel well after taking them. She revealed this fact in March 2016 in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, after the revelation that Maria Sharapova had been found taking a similar heart-issue drug, which later had been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.[8]

Since retirement, Durie has worked as a TV tennis commentator for both the BBC and British Eurosport. She used to coach British number one Elena Baltacha alongside her own former coach Alan Jones.[4] She won back-to-back Wimbledon Ladies' Senior Invitation doubles titles in 1996 and 1997.

Durie currently works as an academy coach at the FC** Academy in Middlesex.

Significant finals

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Grand Slam tournaments

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Mixed doubles: 2 (2 titles)

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Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1987 Wimbledon Grass United Kingdom Jeremy Bates Australia Nicole Provis
Australia Darren Cahill
7–6(12–10), 6–3
Win 1991 Australian Open Hard United Kingdom Jeremy Bates United States Robin White
United States Scott Davis
2–6, 6–4, 6–4

Year-end championships

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Doubles: 1 (runner–up)

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Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1984 New York Carpet (i) United States Ann Kiyomura United States Martina Navratilova
United States Pam Shriver
3–6, 1–6

WTA career finals

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Singles: 6 (2–4)

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Legend
Tier I (0–0)
Tier II (0–0)
Tier III (0–1)
Tier IV (0–0)
Tier V (0–0)
Virginia Slims, Avon, other (2–3)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1. Jun 1980 Beckenham, UK Grass United States Andrea Jaeger 4–6, 1–6
Loss 2. Feb 1982 Greenville, U.S. Hard (i) Brazil Cláudia Monteiro 4–6, 6–3, 4–6
Win 1. Aug 1983 Mahwah, U.S. Hard Czechoslovakia Hana Mandlíková 2–6, 7–5, 6–4
Loss 3. Oct 1983 Brighton, UK Carpet (i) United States Chris Evert-Lloyd 1–6, 1–6
Win 2. Nov 1983 Sydney, Australia Grass United States Kathy Jordan 6–3, 7–5
Loss 4. Jul 1990 Newport, U.S. Grass Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6–7(2–7), 6–4, 5–7

Doubles: 18 (5–13)

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Legend
Tour Championships (0–1)
Tier I (0–0)
Tier II (0–3)
Tier III (0–1)
Tier IV (1–0)
Tier V (0–1)
Virginia Slims, Avon, other (4–7)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1. Jun 1979 Beckenham, UK Grass United Kingdom Debbie Jevans Australia Elizabeth Little
Australia Kerryn Pratt
1–6, 4–6
Win 1. Jun 1982 Birmingham, UK Grass United Kingdom Anne Hobbs United States Rosie Casals
Australia Wendy Turnbull
6–3, 6–2
Loss 2. Jan 1983 Houston, U.S. Carpet (I) United States Barbara Potter United States Martina Navratilova
United States Pam Shriver
4–6, 3–6
Win 2. Mar 1983 Boston, U.S. Carpet (i) United States Ann Kiyomura United States Kathy Jordan
United States Anne Smith
6–3, 6–1
Win 3. May 1983 Berlin, Germany Clay United Kingdom Anne Hobbs West Germany Claudia Kohde-Kilsch
West Germany Eva Pfaff
6–4, 7–6
Loss 3. Jun 1983 Eastbourne, UK Grass United Kingdom Anne Hobbs United States Martina Navratilova
United States Pam Shriver
1–6, 0–6
Win 4. Aug 1983 Mahwah, U.S. Hard United States Sharon Walsh South Africa Rosalyn Fairbank
United States Candy Reynolds
4–6, 7–5, 6–3
Loss 4. Oct 1983 Brighton, UK Carpet (i) United States Ann Kiyomura United States Chris Evert-Lloyd
United States Pam Shriver
5–7, 4–6
Loss 5. Feb 1984 Livingston, U.S. Carpet (i) United States Ann Kiyomura United States Martina Navratilova
United States Pam Shriver
4–6, 3–6
Loss 6. Feb 1984 VS Championships, U.S. Carpet (i) United States Ann Kiyomura United States Martina Navratilova
United States Pam Shriver
3–6, 1–6
Loss 7. Jun 1984 Eastbourne, UK Grass United States Ann Kiyomura United States Martina Navratilova
United States Pam Shriver
4–6, 2–6
Loss 8. Aug 1984 Mahwah, U.S. Hard United States Ann Kiyomura United States Martina Navratilova
United States Pam Shriver
6–7(3–7), 6–3, 2–6
Loss 9. Mar 1989 Boca Raton, U.S. Hard United States Mary Joe Fernández Czechoslovakia Jana Novotná
Czechoslovakia Helena Suková
4–6, 2–6
Win 5. Apr 1990 Singapore Hard Canada Jill Hetherington France Pascale Paradis
France Catherine Suire
6–4, 6–1
Loss 10. Sep 1990 Leipzig, Germany Carpet (i) Netherlands Manon Bollegraf South Africa Lise Gregory
United States Gretchen Magers
2–6, 6–4, 3–6
Loss 11. Oct 1990 Brighton, UK Carpet (i) Soviet Union Natasha Zvereva Czechoslovakia Helena Suková
France Nathalie Tauziat
1–6, 4–6
Loss 12. Sep 1991 St. Petersburg, Russia Carpet (i) France Isabelle Demongeot Soviet Union Elena Brioukhovets
Soviet Union Natalia Medvedeva
5–7, 3–6
Loss 13. Feb 1993 Paris, France Carpet (i) France Catherine Suire Czech Republic Jana Novotná
Czech Republic Andrea Strnadová
6–7(2–7), 2–6

Grand Slam performance timelines

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

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Tournament 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Australian Open A A A A A 3R 3R QF 2R 3R NH 4R 2R 3R 2R 2R 2R A A A
French Open A A A 1R 1R 2R SF 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R A 1R 3R A A A
Wimbledon 1R 1R 2R 1R 4R 1R 3R QF 4R 3R 3R 2R A 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R
US Open A A A A 4R 3R SF 1R 1R 3R 2R 1R 1R 1R 4R 1R 1R A A
Year-end ranking NR 123 73 53 31 28 8 24 26 24 73 60 118 64 60 60 192 343 292

Doubles

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Tournament 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Australian Open A A A A A 2R 2R QF 2R SF NH QF 1R QF 1R 1R 2R A A A
French Open A A A 1R 3R 3R SF 1R A 2R A A 2R A A A A A A
Wimbledon 1R A 3R 1R 1R 2R SF SF QF 1R 1R 3R A 2R 1R 2R 2R 1R 2R
US Open A A 2R A 3R 2R 2R 3R 2R 1R QF 2R 2R 1R QF 2R 2R A A
Year-end ranking 10 25 42 43 43 36 39 70 84 51 215 186

Mixed doubles

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Tournament 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Career SR
Australian Open A A A A A A A A A A NH A A A SF W QF A A A 1 / 3
French Open A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0
Wimbledon 1R 1R A 2R 3R 2R 3R A QF QF W 2R A QF 3R 3R QF 2R 2R 1 / 16
US Open A A A A A A A A A A A A 1R A SF 1R A A A 0 / 3
  • Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

Federation Cup

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1981 Federation Cup
Date Venue Surface Round Opponents Final match score Match Opponent Rubber score
9–15 Nov
1981
Tokyo Clay 1R  Belgium 3–0 Singles Ann Gabriel 5–7, 6–3, 6–3 (W)
Doubles (with Sue Barker) de Witte/de Wouters 6–3, 6–3 (W)
F  United States 0–3 Doubles (with Virginia Wade) Casals/Jordan 4–6, 5–7 (L)
1982 Federation Cup
19–25 Nov
1982
Santa Clara Hard 1R  Italy 2–1 Singles Sabina Simmonds 6–4, 6–7, 1–6 (L)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Murgo/Simmonds 6–4, 6–3 (W)
2R  Israel 3–0 Singles Rafeket Binyamini 6–4, 6–2 (W)
QF  Czechoslovakia 1–2 Singles Helena Suková 3–6, 2–6 (L)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Budarova/Suková 6–2, 4–6, 6–3 (W)
1983 Federation Cup
17–24 Jul
1983
Zürich Clay 1R  Luxembourg 3–0 Singles Simone Wolter 6–2, 6–0 (W)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Huberty/Wolter 6–0, 6–0 (W)
2R  Brazil 3–0 Singles Patricia Medrado 6–4, 6–4 (W)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Medrado/Monteiro 6–3, 6–2 (W)
QF  West Germany 1–2 Singles Bettina Bunge 3–6, 4–6 (L)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Bunge/Pfaff 3–6, 6–4, 10–8 (W)
1984 Federation Cup
15–22 Jul
1984
São Paulo Clay 1R  Bulgaria 0–3 Singles Manuela Maleeva 4–6, 6–4, 4–6 (L)
1984 Federation Cup Consolation Rounds
15–22 Jul
1984
São Paulo Clay 1R BYE
2R  Hungary 2–1 Doubles (with Amanda Brown) Ritecz/Rozsavolgyi 6–2, 7–5 (W)
QF  Canada 2–1 Doubles (with Amanda Brown) Hetherington/Pelletier 7–6, 6–2 (W)
SF  Brazil 1–2 Singles Patricia Medrado 6–3, 6–1 (W)
1985 Federation Cup
6–14 Oct
1985
Nagoya Hard 1R  West Germany 3–0 Singles Petra Keppeler 6–4, 6–0 (W)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Betzner/Keppeler 6–4, 3–6, 6–1 (W)
2R  Japan 2–1 Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Inoue/Yanagi 6–7(2–7), 6–3, 6–2 (W)
QF  Bulgaria 1–2 Singles Katerina Maleeva 2–6, 6–4, 6–8 (L)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) K. Maleeva/Man. Maleeva 5–4, ret. (W)
1986 Federation Cup
20–27 Jul
1986
Prague Clay 1R  Denmark 0–3 Singles Tine Scheuer-Larsen 3–6, 1–6 (L)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Moller/Scheuer-Larsen 2–6, 6–7(1–7) (L)
1987 Federation Cup
26 Jul–
2 Aug 1987
Vancouver N/A 1R  Chile 3–0 Singles Macarena Miranda 6–2, 6–1 (W)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Espinoza/Miranda 6–1, 6–0 (W)
2R  Italy 2–1 Singles Raffaella Reggi 5–7, 4–6 (L)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Cecchini/Reggi 6–7, 7–5, 6–4 (W)
QF  United States 0–3 Singles Chris Evert 3–6, 1–6 (L)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Burgin/Garrison 5–7, 5–7 (L)
1989 Federation Cup
26 Jul–
2 Aug 1989
Tokyo Hard 1R  Indonesia 3–0 Singles Yayuk Basuki 6–2, 7–6(7–5) (W)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Anggarkusuma/Basuki 7–5, 6–3 (W)
2R  Austria 1–2 Singles Barbara Paulus 6–2, 4–6, 3–6 (L)
Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Paulus/Schwarz 3–6, 7–6(7–3), 6–3 (W)
1990 Federation Cup
21–29 Jul
1990
Atlanta Hard 1R  Dominican Republic 3–0 Doubles (with Clare Wood) Sánchez/Schad 6–2, 6–0 (W)
2R  Italy 2–1 Doubles (with Clare Wood) Golarsa/Reggi 6–4, 6–1 (W)
QF  Austria 1–2 Singles Barbara Paulus 6–7(3–7), 7–5, 4–6 (L)
Doubles (with Clare Wood) Paulus/Reinstadler 5–2, ret. (W)
1991 Federation Cup
24 Jul 1991 Nottingham N/A 1R BYE
2R  Italy 0–2 Singles Sandra Cecchini 5–7, 4–6 (L)
1992 Federation Cup World Group1
13–17 Jul
1992
Frankfurt Clay 1R  United States 0–3 Singles Lori McNeil 5–7, 3–6 (L)
Doubles (with Clare Wood) Graham/Shriver 4–6, 6–7(6–8) (L)
PO
1R
 Chile 3–0 Singles Paula Cabezas 6–7(5–7), 6–0, 6–1 (W)
PO
(Final)
 Finland 1–2 Singles Petra Thorén 3–6, 5–7 (L)
>1993 Federation Cup World Group2
20–22 Jul
1993
Frankfurt Clay 1R  Spain 0–3 Singles Conchita Martínez 2–6, 1–6 (L)
Doubles (with Clare Wood) Martínez/Sánchez Vicario 1–6, 6–4, 1–6 (L)
PO
(Relegation)
 Poland 1–2 Singles Magdalena Feistel 6–2, 5–7, ret. (L)
1994 Federation Cup Europe/Africa Zone (Group I)
18–23 Apr
1994
Bad Waltersdorf Clay RR  Luxembourg 3–0 Singles Rosabel Moyen 7–5, 6–0 (W)
Doubles (with Clare Wood) Kremer/Moyen 6–4, 6–0 (W)
 Russia 2–1 Singles Elena Makarova 4–6, 7–5, 7–5 (W)
PO
R1
 Israel 3–0 Singles Shiri Burstein 6–3, 6–2 (W)
Doubles (with Clare Wood) Burstein/Obziler 6–1, 6–0 (W)
PO
(Promotion)
 Belgium 0–2 Singles Dominique Monami 5–7, 3–6 (L)
1995 Federation Cup Europe/Africa Zone (Group I)
17–19 Apr
1995
Murcia Clay RR  Slovenia 1–2 Doubles (with Clare Wood) Jezernik/Križan 2–6, 6–1, 6–2 (W)
 Czech Republic 0–3 Doubles (with Clare Wood) Novotná/Suková 7–6(12–10), 1–6, 2–6 (L)
 Poland 2–1 Doubles (with Clare Wood) Grzybowska/Olsza 6–2, 7–5 (W)
  • 1 – In 1992 the 16 teams which lost in the first round of the main draw were re-drawn to face each other to maintain their positions in the World Group in 1993. The four teams which won their two knock-out play-off ties successfully defended their places in the World Group whilst the 12 teams which did not were relegated.
  • 2 – In 1993 the 16 teams which lost in the first round of the main draw were re-drawn to face each other to maintain their positions in the World Group in 1994. The eight teams which won their knock-out play-off ties successfully defended their places in the World Group whilst the eight losing teams were relegated.

References

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  1. ^ "Doubles" (PDF). WTA. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  2. ^ Dickson, Andrew (27 January 2016). "Johanna Konta reaches Australian Open semis for first time". Sky Sports. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  3. ^ WTA singles ranking, 31 December 1981
  4. ^ a b c "Jo Durie: From the clay to the commentary box". ESPN. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  5. ^ "Wimbledon 2015 on the BBC – across television, radio and online". BBC. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  6. ^ "Jo Durie (GBR)" (PDF). Wimbledon. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  7. ^ "Steffi Graf vs Jo Durie Head To Head Graf Durie H2H Stats & Matches". Steve G Tennis. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  8. ^ BBC Radio 5 Live, Breakfast show, 8 March 2016
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