Kerry Reid

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Kerry Melville Reid, MBE, (born August 7, 1947, in Mosman, New South Wales) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. Reid is best remembered for winning the women's singles title at the January 1977 edition of the Australian Open, although she won 26 additional singles titles during her 17-year career and reached an additional 40 singles finals.

Reid was included in the year-end world top ten rankings for 12 consecutive years (1968-1979). She won at least one tournament annually from 1966 through 1979, except for 1975. Reid held a career-high world ranking of No. 5 from 1971 through 1974, behind Margaret Smith Court, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong, and Chris Evert.

The crowning moment of Reid's career came in January 1977 when she defeated fellow-Australian Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat 7-5, 6-2 in the women's singles final at the Australian Open.

Reid began her Grand Slam tennis career in 1963 when she reached the third round of the Australian Championships. In 1966, she reached the semifinals at both the Australian and U.S. Championships (defeating King, the defending champion, in the second round of the latter tournament). In 1967, Reid again reached the semifinals at the Australian Championships and also reached the semifinals at the French Championships.

Reid was the women's singles runner-up at the 1970 Australian Open, losing to Court. Reid also was the women's singles runner-up at the U.S. Open in 1972, losing to King after beating Evert in a semifinal 6-4, 6-2.

In 1972, Reid reached the final of the inaugural WTA Tour Championships, where she lost to Evert 7-5, 6-4.

Reid capped her last year on the professional tour in 1979 by beating Martina Navratilova for first time in tournament play. Reid defeated Navratilova in a Family Circle Cup semifinal 6-3, 7-6 before losing to Tracy Austin in the final 7-6, 7-6. Reid also competed in the season-ending WTA Tour Championships (limited to the year's top 8 players).

Reid won the Australian Open women's doubles title twice, outright in 1968 and shared in December 1977. She also won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon in 1978.

Reid was a member of the Australian team that won the Fed Cup in 1968. She also helped Australia reach four consecutive Fed Cup finals from 1976 through 1979. During that run, she beat several top players, including Rosie Casals (1976 final in Philadelphia 1-6, 6-3, 7-5), Virginia Wade (1977 semifinal on English grass 6-4, 6-4), and Austin (1978 final on Australian grass 6-3, 6-2).

Reid was a member of the "Houston 9," the breakaway group led by Gladys Heldman in 1971 that formed the nucleus of the women's professional tennis tour.

Reid anchored a World Team Tennis team for each season of its inaugural incarnation (Boston Lobsters 1974-1976 and San Diego Friars 1977-1978). For the Friars in 1977, Reid was undefeated in singles against both Navratilova and Wade, beating each three times.

Reid married Grover "Raz" Reid, a Boston Lobsters teammate, in 1976. Raz retired as a player in 1977 and coached Kerry during the remaining three years of her playing career. The Reids then retired to Raz's home state of South Carolina and raised two daughters.

Reid was made a Member of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1979.

1 Grand Slam singles finals
- 1.1 Wins (1)
- 1.2 Runner-ups (2)
2 Grand Slam women's doubles finals
- 2.1 Wins (3)
- 2.2 Runner-ups (5)
3 Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
- 3.1 See also
4 External links

[edit] Grand Slam singles finals

[edit] Wins (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1977	Australian Open	Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat	7-5, 6-2

[edit] Runner-ups (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1970	Australian Open	Margaret Smith Court	6-3, 6-1
1972	U.S. Open	Billie Jean King	6-3, 7-5

[edit] Grand Slam women's doubles finals

[edit] Wins (3)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score/Final
1968	Australian Championships	Karen Krantzcke	Judy Tegart Dalton Lesley Turner Bowrey	6-4, 3-6, 6-2
1977 (Dec.)	Australian Open	Mona Schallau Guerrant	Evonne Goolagong Cawley Helen Gourlay Cawley	title shared, final rained out
1978	Wimbledon	Wendy Turnbull	Mima Jausovec Virginia Ruzici	4-6, 9-8(10), 6-3

[edit] Runner-ups (5)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score/Final
1970	Australian Open	Karen Krantzcke	Margaret Smith Court Judy Tegart Dalton	6-3, 6-1
1973	Australian Open	Kerry Harris	Margaret Smith Court Virginia Wade	6-4, 6-4
1974	Australian Open	Kerry Harris	Evonne Goolagong Cawley Peggy Michel	7-5, 6-3
1977 (Jan.)	Australian Open	Betsy Nagelson	Helen Gourlay Cawley Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat	5-7, 6-1, 6-4
1978	U.S. Open	Wendy Turnbull	Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova	7-6, 6-4

[edit] Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1977 (Dec.)	1978	1979	Career SR
Australia	3R	2R	3R	SF	SF	3R	SF	F	A	A	SF	SF	2R	1R	W	SF	A	A	1 / 14
France	A	A	A	1R	SF	4R	A	1R	2R	4R	A	A	A	A	A	-	A	A	0 / 6
Wimbledon	A	A	A	3R	3R	3R	2R	4R	QF	3R	QF	SF	2R	QF	QF	-	4R	4R	0 / 14
United States	A	A	A	SF	4R	A	1R	QF	SF	F	QF	QF	QF	2R	4R	-	4R	QF	0 / 13
SR	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	1 / 3	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 2	1 / 47