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| Birth Name(s) : Mary Pierce |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Mary Pierce Biography
Mary Pierce (born on January 15, 1975, in Montreal, Canada) is a French-American women's professional tennis player on the WTA tour and the winner of a total of four Grand Slam titles: two in singles; and two in doubles. Pierce plays for France.
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.) She quickly gained a reputation for being one of the all-time hardest hitters on the women's circuit.
During her first few years on the tour, Pierce was better known for the behavior of her father, more so 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 notoriously 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 to leave her alone. She withdrew from the Wimbledon tournament in 1994 after a British tabloid newspaper threatened to smuggle her father into the grounds.
In 1994, Pierce reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open. She became first player to reach the 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 defeat of World No. 1 Steffi Graf in the semifinals. In the final, Pierce lost 6-4, 6-4 to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.
In 1995, Pierce won her first Grand Slam title by defeating Arantxa 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. Pierce also won the Japan Open, defeating Sanchez-Vicario, 6-3, 6-3.
In 1996, Pierce suffered a series of setbacks, including her split with Nick Bollieteri after failing to defend her title at the 1996 Australian Open. Aside from a runner-up finish in Amelia Island and a semifinal finish in Hamburg, the highlight of the year for Pierce was her first appearance in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
After a few quiet years on the tour, Pierce won her first title since the 2000 French Open at 's-Hertogenbosch in 2004.
She then burst back into the top ranks of the women's game in 2005. At the French Open, she reached the singles final for the third time, where she lost 6-1, 6-1 to Justine Henin. She then reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the first time since 1996. Pierce faced Venus Williams in that quarterfinal and lost the match after a long 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 in San Diego, defeating Ai Sugiyama in the final.
After the U.S. Open, Pierce won her second title of 2005 at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. In her quarterfinal match against Russian Elena Likhovtseva, Pierce came back from 0-6 in the third set tiebreak (6 match points down) and won 8 consecutive points to reach the semifinals. The final score of the match was 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(6).
Pierce's year-end ranking was No. 5, a considerable improvement on her year-beginning ranking of No. 29. This matched her career-best performances of 1994, 1995, and 1999, and she was less than 200 points behind Maria Sharapova for No. 4 and less than 300 points behind Mauresmo for No. 3. Pierce's return to form in 2005 was one of the most surprising tennis stories of the year. Her successful performance in 2005 also encouraged the former world No. 1 player, Martina Hingis, to return to the game.
Pierce reached the final of her next tournament, the Gaz de France in Paris, where she lost to compatriot Amélie Mauresmo 6-1, 7-6(6).
In just her second tournament in over six months, Pierce played at the U.S. Open. Pierce won her first round match against Elena Vesnina 7-5, 6-1 and defeated Eva Birnerova 6-3, 6-4 in the second round. Na Li, the 24th seed from China, defeated Pierce in the third round 4-6, 6-0, 6-0.
Pierce underwent a successful operation in December 2006 and is expected to miss most of 2007. Currently rehabilitating her knee in Vail, Colorado. She expects to return by late fall 2007. Not ready to retire, she stated that she still has things she would like to accomplish, including playing the 2008 Beijing Olympics. |
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