Helena Suková
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| Olympic medal record | |||
| Women's tennis | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver | 1988 Seoul | Doubles | |
| Silver | 1996 Atlanta | Doubles | |
Helena Suková (b. February 23, 1965 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. During her career, she won 14 Grand Slam titles, 9 of them in women's doubles and 5 of them in mixed doubles. She also was a four-time Grand Slam singles runner-up.
Suková comes from a prominent Czech tennis family. Her mother, Věra Pužejová Suková, was a women's singles finalist at Wimbledon in 1962. Her father, Cyril Suk II, was president of the Czechoslovakian Tennis Federation. Her brother, Cyril Suk III, is a professional player on the men's tour who teamed with Suková to win three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, at the French Open in 1991 and at Wimbledon in 1996 and 1997.
Suková turned professional in 1981. Her career-high world rankings were fourth in singles and first in women's doubles.
Suková was a singles runner-up at the Australian Open twice (in 1984 and 1989) and at the U.S. Open twice (in 1986 and 1993). Sukova's most memorable Grand Slam singles win was against Martina Navratilova in a semifinal of the 1984 Australian Open, where she ended Navratilova's 74-match winning streak and her chance at winning a calendar year Grand Slam.
Suková was a particularly outstanding doubles player. She had a career Grand Slam in women's doubles, winning four titles at Wimbledon, two at the U.S. Open, one at the Australian Open, and one at the French Open. She won three mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon, one at the U.S. Open, and one at the French Open. She also was a women's doubles silver medalist at the Olympic Games in 1988 and 1996 (both times partnering Jana Novotná).
Suková helped Czechoslovakia win the Fed Cup four times, in 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1988. She also teamed with Miloslav Mečíř to win the inaugural Hopman Cup for Czechoslovakia in 1989.
Over the course of her career, Suková won 10 singles titles and 73 doubles titles.
Despite retiring from the professional tour in 1998, she was given a wild card into the 2006 Wimbledon mixed doubles tournament with her brother Cyril Suk. They lost their first round match.
Contents |
[edit] Grand Slam record
- Australian Open
- Singles finalist: 1984, 1989
- Women's Doubles champion: 1990 (with Jana Novotna), 1992 (with Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario)
- Women's Doubles finalist (both with Claudia Kohde-Kilsch): 1984, 1985
- Mixed Doubles finalist: 1994 (with Todd Woodbridge), 1998 (with Cyril Suk)
- French Open
- Women's Doubles champion (with Novotna): 1990
- Women's Doubles finalist (both with Kohde-Kilsch): 1985, 1988
- Mixed Doubles champion (with Suk): 1991
- Wimbledon
- Women's Doubles champion: 1987 (with Kohde-Kilsch), 1989 (with Novotna), 1990 (with Novotna), 1996 (with Martina Hingis)
- Mixed Doubles champion: 1994 (with Woodbridge), 1996 (with Suk), 1997 (with Suk)
- U.S. Open
- Singles finalist: 1986, 1993
- Women's Doubles champion: 1985 (with Kohde-Kilsch), 1993 (with Sanchez-Vicario)
- Women's Doubles finalist: 1990 (with Novotna)
- Mixed Doubles champion: 1993 (with Woodbridge)
- Mixed Doubles finalist: 1992 (with Tom Nijssen)
[edit] Grand Singles Finals
[edit] Runner-ups (4)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1984 | Australian Open |  Chris Evert |
6-7, 6-1, 6-3 |
| 1986 | U.S. Open | Martina Navratilova |
6-3, 6-2 |
| 1989 | Australian Open |  Steffi Graf |
6-4, 6-4 |
| 1993 | U.S. Open | Steffi Graf |
6-3, 6-3 |
[edit] Grand Slam singles performance timeline
| Tournament | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | 3R | 1R | 3R | F | QF | NH | 4R | 4R | F | SF | 3R | 3R | A | 3R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 16 |
| French Open | A | 2R | 4R | 1R | 2R | SF | 4R | QF | 2R | A | 2R | A | A | 3R | 1R | 1R | 2R | A | 0 / 13 |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | 4R | QF | QF | QF | QF | 4R | 4R | 1R | 3R | QF | 4R | 2R | 2R | 4R | 1R | 0 / 15 |
| U.S. Open | A | 1R | 3R | QF | QF | F | SF | 4R | QF | 4R | 3R | 4R | F | A | 2R | 3R | 1R | A | 0 / 15 |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 59 |
NH = tournament not held.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
[edit] External links
Categories: Czech tennis players | Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics | Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics | Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics | Summer Olympics medalists | Olympic silver medalists for Czechoslovakia | Olympic silver medalists for the Czech Republic | Australian Open champions | French Open champions | Wimbledon champions | US Open champions | 1965 births | Living people | People from Prague
