Tennis Greats: Amelie Mauresmo Quiz

Answer: Francis & Françoise

Amélie was born on July 5, 1979 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France as the second child of Francis and Françoise (she has an older brother named Fabien). Inspired by the victory of French tennis player, Yannick Noah in the 1983 French Open, Amélie first picked up a tennis racquet when she was four years old.

Answer: Qualified for the main draw

Due to her promise as a player, the French Tennis Federation offered Mauresmo a wildcard into the qualifying tournament for the 1995 French Open. Their faith in her abilities was well-founded because Mauresmo won three straight matches against higher-ranked opponents to qualify for the main draw where she was defeated in three sets by Italian player Nathalie Baudone. Pretty impressive effort for a 15 year old!

Answer: Her ranking rose into the WTA top 100

Although she ended 1996 as the #1 on the ITF's junior girls rankings, the points that contribute to this didn't translate over to WTA (women's professional tour) rankings. Despite this, Mauresmo managed to improve her WTA ranking by almost 100 places to end the year at 167 by participating in lower-tier events and receiving a wildcards into WTA main events like the 1996 French Open and a Dutch tournament held in 's-Hertogenbosch.

Answer: Martina Hingis

The 1999 Australian Open final was contested between 18 year old Martina Hingis (who was nicknamed the "Swiss Miss") and 19 year old Amélie Mauresmo with the younger player prevailing in two sets 6-2 6-3. On her way to the final, unseeded Mauresmo had notable wins over top 10 players Lindsay Davenport (#1) and Patty Schnyder (#8).

Answer: 2nd (Silver Medal)

Mauresmo participated in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney as the ninth seed but lost in the first round. She returned to the Olympics stage in 2004 as the second seed and made it to the final, losing to top seed and world number one, Justine Henin.

Hélène Prévost, Julie Vlasto, and Henri Cochet were French silver medallists in the 1900 (Prévost) and 1924 (both Vlasto and Cochet) Olympics singles tennis tournaments.

Answer: 29

After winning a tournament in Eastbourne (UK) with partner Svetlana Kuznetsova, Mauresmo rose to #29 in the doubles rankings on June 26, 2006. It was her second doubles title and she would win a third in 2009, interestingly also alongside Kuznetsova.

The hint about cribbage refers to the highest score you can get in a single cribbage hand which is 29.

Answer: Wimbledon

Winning her maiden grand slam title in Australia was thrilling I'm sure but the victory was somewhat lessened because her opponents in the final two rounds both had to retire due to injury/sickness (Kim Clijsters in the semi and Justine Henin in the final) . Perhaps this made her victory in Wimbledon later that year taste slightly sweeter as none of her seven matches had to be cut short due to external factors.

She even faced the same opponent in the final: Belgian Justine Henin. These two 2006 grand slam titles were the only ones over the course of her career.

Answer: Mary Pierce

In the 2005 all-French final, Mauresmo triumphed 5-7, 7-6[7-3], 6-4 over her close friend, Mary Pierce. The match took three hours and six minutes to complete and was full of breaks of serve. Interestingly, the two finalists had already met during the Round Robin stage of the tournament and on that occasion Pierce had won in three sets (6-1, 4-6, 7-6[7-2]), meaning Mauresmo's success in the final was some quick revenge!

In the 2003 final, Mauresmo lost 6-2, 6-0 to Kim Clijsters and in the 2006 final, Justine Henin beat her 6-4, 6-3.

Answer: Yes

During the 1999 Australian Open tournament, Mauresmo celebrated a victory over top seed and World Number 1 player, Lindsay Davenport by kissing her then-girlfriend Sylvie Bourdon. She then explicitly labelled herself as a lesbian in the subsequent press conference and credited her meeting Sylvie as part of the reason she was playing so well.

In later years, Mauresmo said that although she did not regret 'coming out' during her playing career, she thought the way she went about it was "brutal" and that she underestimated how much interest there would be in her sexuality.

Answer: Andy Murray

In June 2014, Andy Murray announced Mauresmo as his new coach. To that point, it was very rare for top-tier male tennis players to appoint women as their primary coach, so for Murray (who was ranked in the top ten at the time) to appoint Mauresmo came as a huge surprise.

The coaching partnership was a resounding success and under her tutelage, Murray reached two Australian Open finals, won six titles including his first on clay courts, and by the time they parted ways in May 2016, Murray's ranking had risen to #2 in the world.