Dana Gilbert (born November 26, 1959) is a former professional
tennis player from the United States.
Biography
Gilbert grew up in California, one of three siblings. Her youngest brother is
Brad Gilbert
Brad Gilbert (born August 9, 1961) is a former professional tennis player and an American tennis coach. During his career, he won 20 singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 in 1990, and a career-high doubles rank ...
, who also played tennis professionally, and made it to four in the world.
She attended
Piedmont High School, and then
UCLA on a tennis scholarship and played number one singles.
At the age of 17 she won a gold medal at the
1977 Maccabiah Games in Israel, a competition for Israeli and Jewish athletes, defeating
Stacy Margolin
Stacy Margolin (born April 5, 1959) is a former American professional tennis player in the WTA tour and the ITF world tour from 1979 to 1987 whose career-high world singles ranking is No. 18 (career-high end of season ranking of No. 25 in 197 ...
, the number 8 under-18 player in the U.S. At the
1981 Maccabiah Games
The 11th Maccabiah Games brought 3,450 athletes to Israel from 35 nations. The Opening Ceremony was held on July 7, 1981, before a crowd of 53,000 and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in Ramat Gan Stadium, with 3,500 Jewish athletes parading ...
, she and
Donna Rubin won a gold medal in the women's doubles.
Playing as a wildcard, she was a surprise winner of the
1978 U.S. Clay Court Championships, on her professional debut. En route to the final, which she won over
Viviana González, she had a win against second seed
Virginia Ruzici, who two-months earlier had won the French Open. In October, 1980 she won her second WTA singles title at Nagoya and also won the Japan Open doubles title in the same month. She made the fourth round of the
1982 French Open
The 1982 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 24 May until 6 June. It was the 86th staging of the French Open, and the first Grand Slam ...
as a lucky loser. In early 1983 she was ranked a career best 46 in the world, before retiring from professional tennis at the end of the year.
She now lives in
San Anselmo, California and is married to Geoffrey Heinemann.
In 1994 she was inducted into the
Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
WTA Tour finals
Singles (2-0)
Doubles (1-0)
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Dana
1959 births
Living people
American female tennis players
Jewish American sportspeople
Jewish tennis players
Competitors at the 1977 Maccabiah Games
Competitors at the 1981 Maccabiah Games
Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States
Maccabiah Games medalists in tennis
Tennis people from California
UCLA Bruins women's tennis players
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American women