Jill Craybas
Fed Cup | 3–5 |
Jill N. Craybas (born July 4, 1974) is an American former professional tennis player.
From the 2000 US Open to the 2011 US Open, Craybas competed in 45 consecutive Grand Slam tournament main draws; her best result coming in the 2005 Wimbledon Championships where she reached the fourth round, which included wins over Marion Bartoli and Serena Williams. By the time she retired in 2013, she was one of the oldest players on the WTA Tour at 39 years of age, as well as the longest serving, having turned pro in 1996.
Early years
Craybas was born in
Craybas graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications in 1996, and has said in interviews that she hopes to enter film or television production when her playing career ends. She was inducted into the
Craybas credits her achievements to her long-time coach, Raja Chaudhuri who has worked with her from the start of her tennis career.
Professional career
Craybas turned professional in 1996. She won one title on the WTA Tour, at the
Craybas is best known for her 2005 defeat of Serena Williams in the third round of Wimbledon. She beat Williams 6–3, 7–6, then lost to Serena's older sister, and eventual champion, Venus Williams 0–6, 2–6.
On March 25, 2006, Craybas once again served up an early round defeat of a top-seeded player. This time it was second-seeded Kim Clijsters in the second round of the Key Biscayne WTA Tour tournament. After having led in both the first and third sets, Clijsters eventually lost by a score of 5–7, 6–3, 5–7. It was Clijsters earliest ever exit in Key Biscayne, and she was the defending champion.
By that time Craybas, then a veteran on the tour, was thought to be playing the best tennis of her life. However, after having a successful start to 2006, she fell short of what was expected of her from her dramatically impressive start, losing to lower-ranked opponents in first rounds or having difficult first round draws against the top players in the world.
She began 2007 by reaching the semifinals of a Tier-IV event in New Zealand, the Auckland Open. She beat all of her opponents in straight sets before bowing out to Vera Zvonareva, 3–6, 5–7. She next took part in the Tier-II event in Sydney, where she lost in the last round of qualifying to Vera Dushevina, 1–6, 6–3, 1–6. At the first Grand Slam tournament of the year at the Australian Open, she suffered a first-round loss to the tenth-seeded Nicole Vaidišová. Craybas bounced back into winning form at her next tournament in the U.S., at an ITF tournament in Midland, Michigan. As the top-seeded, she beat all of her opponents in straight sets until a hard-fought 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 victory over second-seeded and fellow American Laura Granville. Because of her lower ranking, she suffered in tough draws, not going further than the second round of any tournament since.
At the start of 2008, Craybas entered the
Craybas won the 2008 Istanbul Cup in doubles.
She represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the women's singles tournament. She became the last qualifier for the event, replacing Tamira Paszek of Austria.[5] The opening came available when fellow American Ashley Harkleroad elected to skip the games after she became pregnant.[6] At the US Open 2013, Craybas announced her retirement from tennis.[7]
WTA Tour finals
Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Legend |
---|
Grand Slam tournaments |
Tier I |
Tier II |
Tier III, IV & V (1–1) |
Result | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1. | Oct 2002 | Japan Open | Hard | Silvija Talaja | 2–6, 6–4, 6–4 |
Loss | 1. | Feb 2008 | Pattaya Open, Thailand | Hard | Agnieszka Radwańska | 2–6, 6–1, 6–7(4) |
Doubles: 14 (5 titles, 9 runner-ups)
Legend |
---|
Grand Slam tournaments |
Tier I / Premier M & Premier 5 |
Tier II / Premier |
Tier III, IV & V / International (5–9) |
Result | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1. | May 2003 | Madrid Open, Spain | Clay | Liezel Huber | Rita Grande Angelique Widjaja |
6–4, 7–6(6) |
Win | 2. | Aug 2004 | Cincinnati Open, United States | Hard | Marlene Weingärtner | Emmanuelle Gagliardi Anna-Lena Grönefeld |
7–5, 7–6(2) |
Loss | 1. | Oct 2004 | Luxembourg Open | Hard | Marlene Weingärtner | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
1–6, 7–6(1), 3–6 |
Loss | 2. | Sep 2005 | Korea Open | Hard | Natalie Grandin | 2–6, 4–6 | |
Loss | 3. | Jan 2006 | Hobart International, Australia | Hard | Jelena Kostanić
|
Émilie Loit Nicole Pratt |
2–6, 1–6 |
Loss | 4. | Jun 2006 | Birmingham Classic, UK | Grass | Liezel Huber | Jelena Janković Li Na |
2–6, 4–6 |
Loss | 5. | Oct 2006 | Tournoi de Québec, Canada | Hard | Alina Jidkova | Carly Gullickson Laura Granville |
3–6, 4–6 |
Loss | 6. | Sep 2007 | Bali Classic, Indonesia | Hard | Natalie Grandin | Ji Chunmei Sun Shengnan |
3–6, 2–6 |
Loss | 7. | Apr 2008 | Prague Open, Czech Republic | Clay | Michaëlla Krajicek | 6–1, 3–6, [6–10] | |
Win | 3. | May 2008 | Istanbul Cup, Turkey | Clay | Olga Govortsova | Marina Erakovic Polona Hercog |
6–1, 6–2 |
Win | 4. | Oct 2008 | Japan Open | Hard | Marina Erakovic | Ayumi Morita Aiko Nakamura |
4–6, 7–5, [10–6] |
Loss | 8. | Nov 2008 | Tournoi de Québec, Canada | Hard | Tamarine Tanasugarn | Anna-Lena Grönefeld Vania King |
6–7(3), 4–6 |
Loss | 9. | Jul 2010 | Palermo Ladies Open , Italy
|
Clay | Julia Görges | Alberta Brianti Sara Errani |
4–6, 1–6 |
Win | 5. | Jun 2012 | Gastein Ladies, Austria | Clay | Julia Görges | Anna-Lena Grönefeld Petra Martić |
6–7(4), 6–4, [11–9] |
Mixed doubles: 1 (runner-up)
Result | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | Sep 2004 | China Open | Tier II | Hard | Justin Gimelstob | Emmanuelle Gagliardi Tripp Phillips |
1–6, 2–6 |
Grand Slam performance timelines
W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
Singles
Tournament | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | W–L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | A | A | A | 1R | LQ | 1R | 2R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 2R | LQ | 11–12 |
French Open | A | A | A | LQ | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | A | 5–11 |
Wimbledon | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 4R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | LQ | 6–11 |
US Open | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | A | 10–15 |
Win–loss | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 2–4 | 0–4 | 4–4 | 4–4 | 1–4 | 1–4 | 1–4 | 3–4 | 1–4 | 2–4 | 0–0 | 32–49 |
Doubles
Tournament | 1998 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | W–L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | A | A | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 5–10 |
French Open | A | A | QF | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | A | 1R | 4–9 |
Wimbledon | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | 3–10 |
US Open | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | 2R | 2R | 5–11 |
Win–loss | 0–1 | 1–2 | 4–4 | 1–4 | 2–4 | 3–4 | 0–4 | 1–4 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 2–3 | 17–40 |
See also
- Florida Gators
- List of Florida Gators tennis players
- List of University of Florida alumni
- List of University of Florida Olympians
- List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members
References
- ^ Collegiate Women Sports Awards, Past Honda Sports Award Winners for Tennis. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
- ^ "Woolcock Named Honda Sport Award winner for Tennis". Florida Gators. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
- ^ F Club, Hall of Fame, Gator Greats. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
- ^ "Nine Members Inducted Into University of Florida Athletics Hall of Fame Archived 2012-09-30 at the Wayback Machine," GatorZone.com (April 11, 2008). Retrieved May 23, 2011.
- ^ Olympic Tennis Event – Acceptance lists Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine ITF Tennis, 6 August 2008
- ^ Ashley Harkleroad to skip Olympics USA Today, 3 June 2008
- ^ admin (2013-09-19). "Jill Craybas Calls Time On Career". WTA Tennis. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
External links
- Jill Craybas at the Women's Tennis Association
- Jill Craybas at the International Tennis Federation
- Jill Craybas at the Billie Jean King Cup
- Jill Craybas at ESPN.com
- Jill Craybas at Olympedia
- Jill Craybas at Olympics.com