Kerry Melville Reid (née Melville; born 7 August 1947) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. During her 17-year career, Reid won one

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

singles title and 26 other singles titles and was the runner-up in 40 singles tournaments. Reid was included in the year-end world top-ten rankings for 12 consecutive years (1968–1979). She won at least one tournament annually from 1966 through 1979, except for 1975. Her career-high ranking was world No. 5 in 1971, behind

Margaret Court Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian retired former world No. 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, her 24 maj ...

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States ...

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 ...

, and

Rosie Casals Rosemary "Rosie" Casals (born September 16, 1948) is an American former professional tennis player. Casals earned her reputation as a rebel in the tennis world when she began competing in the early 1960s. During a tennis career that spanned mor ...

Career

Melville won 27 singles tournaments and was runner-up in 37 more between 1963 and 1979. Against Hall of Fame players, Melville beat Margaret Court three times, Billie Jean King eight times, Evonne Goolagong six times, Chris Evert twice, Martina Navratilova once, Rosie Casals 20 times, Francoise Durr 14 times, Nancy Richey eight times, Virgnia Wade four times, Tracy Austin three times, and Hana Mandlikova twice. Overall, Reid played 1,047 matches from 1962 to 1985, with a win-loss record of 737 to 310 (70.4% winning ratio). In January 1977, Reid won her sole Grand Slam singles title when she defeated fellow Australian

Dianne Fromholtz Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat (née Fromholtz; born 10 August 1956) is an Australian former professional tennis player who reached a highest singles ranking of world No. 4 in 1979. Career Fromholtz began playing tennis at the age of seven. She ...

in the final of the Australian Open in two sets. Reid and Fromholtz were the only top-ten players who played the tournament. The previous week, Reid also defeated Fromholtz in the final of the

New South Wales Open The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, is a professional tennis tournament i ...

, where Reid and Fromholtz again were the only top-ten players who entered. Melville began her Grand Slam tennis career in 1963 when she reached the third round of the

Australian Championships The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

. In 1966, she reached the semifinals of both the Australian Championships and the U.S. Championships, defeating

in the second round of the latter tournament. In 1967, Melville again reached the semifinals of the Australian Championships and reached the semifinals of the

French Championships The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

for the first and only time. Melville was the women's singles runner-up at the 1970 Australian Open, losing to

in the final in straight sets. However, the Australian Tennis Federation banned Melville and fellow Australian Judy Tegart from playing the Australian Open in 1971 and 1972, owing to their roles in having started the Virginia Slims circuit. Melville was the singles runner-up at the US Open in 1972, losing to King after defeating

Chris Evert Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954), known as Chris Evert Lloyd from 1979 to 1987, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Evert won 18 major singles titles, including a record seven French Open titles and a joint-record ...

in the semifinal in straight sets. In 1972, Melville reached the final of the inaugural

WTA Tour Championships WTA may refer to: Organizations *Washington Trails Association *Whatcom Transportation Authority *Waskahegan Trail Association, the management board for the Waskahegan Trail *Water Transit Authority, former name of the San Francisco Bay Area Water ...

, where she lost to Evert in two sets. Reid reached the semi's at the 1973 season-ending Virginia Slims Championship. In 1977, Reid played in both season-ending championships, the Virginia Slims Championships and the Colgate Series Championships, respectively, each limited to the top eight players. In 1978 and 1979, Reid was again among the eight who played in the year-end Colgate Series Championships. Reid capped her last year on the professional tour in 1979 by beating Navratilova for the first time in tournament play. Reid defeated Navratilova in a

Family Circle Cup The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...

semifinal in two sets, then lost to

Tracy Austin Tracy Ann Austin Holt (born December 12, 1962) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. She won three Grand Slam titles: the women's singles titles at the 1979 and 1981 US Opens, and the mixed doubles title at the 1980 Wimbledon ...

in the final. Reid also competed in the year-ending WTA Championships (limited to the year's top 8 players). Melville Reid won the Australian Open women's doubles title twice, outright in 1968 and shared in December 1977. With

Wendy Turnbull Wendy Turnbull, , (born 26 November 1952) is a retired tennis player from Australia. During her career, she won nine Grand Slam titles, four of them in women's doubles and five of them in mixed doubles. She also was a three-time Grand Slam runn ...

in 1978, Reid won the women's doubles title at

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 * ...

, was the doubles runner-up at the US Open and the year-ending Colgate Series Championship, and won the doubles titles at the Virginia Slims of Seattle, the Virginia Slims of Philadelphia, the U.S. Indoor Championships, and the New South Wales Open. Melville was a member of the Australian team that won the

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

in 1968. She also helped Australia reach four consecutive Federation Cup finals from 1976 through 1979 on a variety of court surfaces. During that run, she beat several top players, including

Rosemary Casals Rosemary "Rosie" Casals (born September 16, 1948) is an American former professional tennis player. Casals earned her reputation as a rebel in the tennis world when she began competing in the early 1960s. During a tennis career that spanned mor ...

(1976 final on carpet), Wade (1977 semifinal on grass in Eastbourne just weeks before Wade's Wimbledon victory), Austin (1978 final in Melbourne on grass) and

Hana Mandlíková Hana Mandlíková (born 19 February 1962) is a former professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia who later obtained Australian citizenship. During her career she won four Grand Slam singles titles - the 1980 Australian Open, 1981 French Op ...

(1979 semifinal on clay). Reid was a member of the "Houston 9", the breakaway group led by

Gladys Heldman Gladys Medalie Heldman (May 13, 1922 – June 22, 2003) was an American tennis player, manager and magazine publisher. She was the founder of ''World Tennis'' magazine. As a manager, she supported and represented Billie Jean King and eight other f ...

in 1971 that formed the nucleus of the women's professional tennis tour.

World TeamTennis

Reid anchored a

World TeamTennis World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take a ...

team for each season of its inaugural incarnation (

Boston Lobsters The Boston Lobsters were a World TeamTennis team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Lobsters played home matches at the Walter Brown Arena, Boston University, in Boston, MA. The most recent Boston Lobsters were a reincarnation of two pr ...

1974–1976 and San Diego Friars 1977–1978). In 1977, Reid was undefeated in singles against both

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 ...

and

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 ...

, defeating each three times. As of July 20, 1978, Reid had "won the most games of any woman ever in WTT in women's singles. ... I think part of it is she's always been on teams where she's had the sole singles role. ... it's a longevity record." (Julie Heldman commentary with Vic Braden, HBO "Phoenix Racquets vs. San Diego Friars (July 20, 1978)," 0.3:40 - 0:4:10 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcZebskRl3M)

Personal life

She married Grover "Raz" Reid, a Boston Lobsters teammate, on 27 April 1975 in Greenville, South Carolina. Raz retired as a player in 1977 and coached Kerry during the remaining three years of her playing career. The Reids then retired to Raz's home state of South Carolina and raised two daughters.

Honours and awards

Reid was made a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

in 1979. In 2014, she was inducted into the

Australian Tennis Hall of Fame The Australian Tennis Hall of Fame was established in 1993 by Tennis Australia under the leadership of then-president Geoff Pollard. Described by Tennis Australia as "one of the highest honours Australian tennis players can receive", inductees are ...

. Reid was among the "Original Nine" inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on July 17, 2021.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Women's doubles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Grand Slam singles timeline

¹ The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.
^2,3 Melville did not play. Her opponent got a walkover.

References

External links

* * * * * * YouTube
HBO - 1978 WTT match Reid vs Sue Barker of the Phoenix Racquets
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melville, Kerry Australian Championships (tennis) champions Australian female tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions People from the North Shore, Sydney Sportswomen from New South Wales Wimbledon champions 1947 births Living people Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles Tennis players from Sydney Australian Championships (tennis) junior champions Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire