Helena Suková

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Helena Sukova

Country	Czech Republic
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Date of birth	February 23, 1965 (1965-02-23) (age 43)
Place of birth	Prague, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb/10.7 st)
Turned pro	1983
Retired	1998
Plays	Right-handed
Career prize money	US$ 6,391,245
Singles
Career record:	614-307
Career titles:	10
Highest ranking:	4 (March 18, 1985)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	F (1984, 1989)
French Open	SF (1986)
Wimbledon	QF (1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1993)
US Open	F (1986, 1993)
Doubles
Career record:	752-220
Career titles:	69
Highest ranking:	1 (February 5, 1990)
Infobox last updated on: May 29, 2008.

Olympic medal record
Women's tennis
Silver	1988 Seoul	Doubles
Silver	1996 Atlanta	Doubles

Helena Sukova (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.

Sukova comes from a prominent Czech tennis family. Her mother, Vera Puzejova Sukova, 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 Sukova to win three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, at the French Open in 1991 and at Wimbledon in 1996 and 1997.

Sukova turned professional in 1981. Her career-high world rankings were fourth in singles and first in women's doubles.

Sukova 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.

Sukova 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 Novotna).

Sukova 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, Sukova won 10 singles titles and 69 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 1 Grand Slam singles finals 1.1 Runner-ups (4) 2 Grand Slam women's doubles finals 2.1 Wins (9) 2.2 Runner-ups (5) 3 Grand Slam mixed doubles finals 3.1 Wins (5) 3.2 Runner-ups (3) 4 WTA Tour finals 4.1 Singles 4.1.1 Wins (10) 5 Grand Slam singles performance timeline 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Grand Slam 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 (2)	Steffi Graf	6–4, 6–4
1993	U.S. Open (2)	Steffi Graf	6–3, 6–3

[edit] Grand Slam women's doubles finals

[edit] Wins (9)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1985	U.S. Open	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6–7, 6–2, 6–3
1987	Wimbledon	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Betsy Nagelsen Elizabeth Smylie	7–5, 7–5
1989	Wimbledon (2)	Jana Novotna	Larisa Neiland Natalia Zvereva	6–1, 6–2
1990	Australian Open	Jana Novotna	Patty Fendick Mary Joe Fernandez	7–6, 7–6
1990	French Open	Jana Novotna	Larisa Neiland Natalia Zvereva	6–4, 7–5
1990	Wimbledon (3)	Jana Novotna	Larisa Neiland Natalia Zvereva	6–4, 6–0
1993	Australian Open (2)	Arantxa Sanchez Vicario	Mary Joe Fernandez Zina Garrison	6–4, 7–6
1993	U.S. Open (2)	Arantxa Sanchez Vicario	Amanda Coetzer Ines Gorrochategui	6–4, 6–2
1996	Wimbledon (4)	Martina Hingis	Meredith McGrath Larisa Neiland	5–7, 7–5, 6–1

[edit] Runner-ups (5)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1984	Australian Open	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6–3, 6–4
1985	Australian Open (2)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6–3, 6–4
1985	French Open	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	4–6, 6–2, 6–2
1988	French Open (2)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6–2, 7–5
1990	U.S. Open	Jana Novotna	Gigi Fernandez Martina Navratilova	6–2, 6–4

[edit] Grand Slam mixed doubles finals

[edit] Wins (5)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1991	French Open	Cyril Suk	Paul Haarhuis Caroline Vis	3–6, 6–4, 6–1
1993	U.S. Open	Todd Woodbridge	Martina Navratilova Mark Woodforde	6–3, 7–6
1994	Wimbledon	Todd Woodbridge	T.J. Middleton Lori McNeil	3–6, 7–5, 6–3
1996	Wimbledon (2)	Cyril Suk	Larisa Neiland Mark Woodforde	1–6, 6–3, 6–2
1997	Wimbledon (3)	Cyril Suk	Andrei Olhovskiy Larisa Neiland	4–6, 6–3, 6–4

[edit] Runner-ups (3)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1992	U.S. Open	Tom Nijssen	Nicole Provis Mark Woodforde	4–6, 6–3, 6–3
1994	Australian Open	Todd Woodbridge	Andrei Olhovskiy Larisa Neiland	7–5, 6–7, 6–2
1998	Australian Open (2)	Cyril Suk	Justin Gimelstob Venus Williams	6–2, 6–1

[edit] WTA Tour finals

[edit] Singles

[edit] Wins (10)

Legend (Singles)
Tier IV & V (4)
Pre-Tier wins (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	January 17, 1982	Newport News, Virginia, U.S.	Carpet (I)	Pat Medrado	6-2, 6-7, 6-0
2.	November 18, 1984	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Elizabeth Sayers Smylie	6–4, 6–4
3.	August 10, 1986	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Pam Shriver	6–2, 7-5
4.	October 5, 1986	Hilversum, Netherlands	Carpet (I)	Catherine Tanvier	6–2, 7-5
5.	April 4, 1987	Piscataway, New Jersey, U.S.	Carpet (I)	Lori McNeil	6–0, 6-3
6.	June 20, 1987	Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Martina Navratilova	7-6(5), 6-3
7.	January 8, 1989	Brisbane, Australia	Hard	Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	7-6(6), 7-6(6)
8.	January 6, 1991	Brisbane, Australia	Hard	Akiko Kijimuta	6–4, 6–3
9.	February 9, 1992	Osaka, Japan	Carpet (I)	Laura Arraya Gildemeister	6-2, 4-6, 6-1
10.	November 15, 1992	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.	Hard (I)	Linda Harvey Wild	6-4 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] References

[edit] External links

• Official Website of Helena Sukova
• Helena Suková profile on the WTA Tour's official website
• Fed Cup profile for Helena Suková