Annie Miller (born January 19, 1977) is a retired American professional

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

. Miller attained a career high singles ranking of 40 on 21 September 1998. She is best known for being the first opponent of

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...

in Williams' professional career, Miller winning the match 6–1, 6–1. She also has wins over

Lindsay Davenport Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. Davenport was ranked singles world No. 1 for a total of 98 weeks, and was the year-end singles world No. 1 four times (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005) ...

Mary Pierce Mary Caroline Pierce (born 15 January 1975) is a retired tennis professional who represented France internationally in team competitions and the Olympics. She was born in Canada to an American father and a French mother, and holds citizenship of ...

Kimiko Date is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals of the 1994 Australian Open, the 1995 French Open and the 1996 Wimbledon Championships, and won the Japan Open a record four times. She reached a career-high ranking ...

and

Jana Novotná Jana Novotná (; 2 October 1968 – 19 November 2017) was a Czech professional tennis player. She played a serve and volley game, an increasingly rare style of play among women during her career. Novotná won the women's singles title at Wimbl ...

Early life and interests

Miller was raised in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Tennis career

Miller began playing tennis for fun when she was five years old. At 16, she received a scholarship to attend the former Nick Bolletieri Tennis Academy. After a successful junior career, she began playing the USTA circuit at age 15, and at 18, she began playing tennis professionally. She played

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

(double handed backhand).

Career end

At the time when Miller started thriving in professional tennis – at the age of 21, a mere four years into her career – she took an indefinite leave of absence from the Women’s Tennis Association. This was the best season of her career, with her solid run to the third round of the U.S. Open, which was her personal best, ranking her Number 43 in the world. Miller also beat both

(who was Number 7 in the world) and

, which earned her reputation for being a “young player on the rise.” When she played at the Open against

Monica Seles Monica Seles (; hu, Széles Mónika, ; sr, Моника Селеш, Monika Seleš; born December 2, 1973) is a retired professional tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. A former world No. 1, she won nine Grand Sla ...

– a game that was televised – she accrued a whole slew of new fans, due to her impressive playing and attractiveness. After the 1998 US Open, Miller made the decision to attend college at University of Michigan, where she received a Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) and Master of Accounting degree at University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Following her tennis career, she worked at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Fenway Sports Group (now Fenway Sports Management), and adidas.

Awards

In a 1991 junior competition, Miller won the U.S. National 16s and 1992 Easter Bowl 18s. The following year she received the Clairol/WTA Tennis Scholarship at the U.S. Open. Two years later, she received the 1994 International Hall of Fame Sportsmanship Award.

Teams

Miller was a member of both the U.S. Maureen Connolly Brinker Cup team and the U.S. National Team in 1991–92.

Education

In 1995, Miller graduated from Bradenton Academy with honors. Following her tennis career, she studied business at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Annie American female tennis players 1977 births Living people Tennis people from Michigan Ross School of Business alumni 21st-century American women