Heide Orth (''née'' Schildknecht; born 10 August 1942) is a former

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 Germany. Heide grew up in Essen in the industrial

Ruhr valley The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

and began playing tennis with her father at the age of 13. Her first major success was winning the West German Junior Championship in 1960. Heide later competed in the International Women's Circuit for many years and played for the Germany National Fed Cup team 15 times between 1964 and 1973. She won the singles title at the German national indoor championships in 1969, 1971, 1972 and 1973. Orth reached the quarterfinals in doubles at both

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

and the French Open. In singles, she had wins on the women's tour against the then-reigning Wimbledon champions

Virginia Wade Sarah Virginia Wade (born 10 July 1945) is a British former professional tennis player. She won three Major tennis singles championships and four major doubles championships, and is the only British woman in history to have won titles at all f ...

(twice) and

Evonne Goolagong Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley (née Goolagong; born 31 July 1951) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. At the age of 19, she won the French Open singl ...

. Heide married Ludwig Orth in 1965 and gave birth to her son in 1970. At that time, she took over ten years to break from tennis before entering the

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there a ...

(ITF) Senior Circuit. According to the ITF, Heide Orth is the most successful female player worldwide in the history of Senior Tennis. She won ITF World Championships in Singles (11), in Doubles (13) and in Team (Cup) Competitions (12). She was also successful in winning more than 80 European Championships in Singles and Doubles (indoor and outdoor), as well as numerous Championships of Germany and other countries. During tournaments in the USA, she earned 45 Gold Balls for winning titles as a USA-Champion on clay and grass. Orth was a fifteen-time European Player of the Year, and she is one of only four tennis players who received the European Senior Lifetime Champion Award. Heide Orth is the first and only female tennis player worldwide to be honoured by the ITF for Outstanding Achievements in Senior Tennis. This special award was handed over to her at the ITF World Champions Dinner in Paris on 3 June 2014.

References

External links

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TennisEurope.org biography
Living people West German female tennis players German female tennis players 1942 births Sportspeople from Essen Tennis people from North Rhine-Westphalia {{germany-tennis-bio-stub