Emilse Raponi Longo (born December 19, 1957) is a former professional

tennis 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 ...

player from Argentina.

Biography

Tennis career

Longo began competing on the professional tour in 1978, as Emilse Raponi. She had early success at her home tournament, the 1978 River Plate Championships, making it through to a WTA Tour final in her first season. En route she upset top seed

Regina Maršíková Regina Maršíková (born 11 December 1958) is a retired tennis player from Czechoslovakia, present-day Czech Republic. Career Maršíková won the French Junior Championships in 1975. She had career wins over Martina Navratilova, Billie Jea ...

, but was unable to get past

Caroline Stoll Caroline Stoll (born November 4, 1960) is a retired American professional tennis player. Career Stoll won the 1976 Easter Bowl Girls' 16s Championships and the 1977 Easter Bowl Girls' 18s Championships as a junior. She turned professional in 197 ...

in the final. In 1979 she made her debut for Argentina's Fed Cup team and went on to feature in a total of 11 ties for her native country. From 1980 to 1982 she appeared in only one WTA Tour tournament, but returned to the circuit in 1983. At the 1983 US Open she came up against top seed

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...

in the opening round and was comfortably beaten. She was a member of the Argentinian side which reached the quarter-finals of the 1983 Fed Cup. Her best performances in doubles came in 1984 when she partnered with Adriana Villagrán-Reami to finish runner-up in back to back WTA tournaments in Tokyo, the

1984 Borden Classic The 1984 Borden Classic was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts in Tokyo, Japan that was part of the 1984 Virginia Slims World Championship Series. The tournament was held from 1 October through 7 October 1984. Third-seeded ...

and 1984 Japan Open Tennis Championships. She made her last Fed Cup appearances for Argentina in 1984 and partnered in doubles with

Gabriela Sabatini Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine-Italian former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 ...

in that year's campaign.

Personal life

In the early 1980s she married American-based Spanish language sportscaster

Norberto Longo Norberto Longo (February 15, 1942 - April 19, 2003) was a Spanish-language sportscaster in the United States. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Norberto Longo primarily provided Spanish-language commentary of soccer matches. A lifelong boxing fan, ...

and according to ITF records began representing the United States later in her career. They remained married until his death in 2003.

WTA Tour finals

Singles (0-1)

Doubles (0-2)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Longo, Emilse 1957 births Living people Argentine female tennis players American female tennis players Argentine emigrants to the United States Tennis players at the 1975 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for Argentina 21st-century American women