Vickie Paynter–Finney (born August 27, 1971) 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 the United States.

Biography

College tennis

Paynter grew up in

Denville Township, New Jersey Denville Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, New Jersey, located west of Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 16,635, reflecting ...

and graduated from

Morris Knolls High School Morris Knolls High School (MKHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Denville Township and most of Rockaway Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, operating as ...

in 1989. She played collegiate tennis for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

of the University of Texas, Austin, from 1990 to 1993 on a full athletic scholarship. She was a member of the Texas team that won the

NCAA Women's Tennis Championship The NCAA Women's Tennis Championship refers to one of three annual collegiate tennis competitions for women organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association for athletes from institutions that make up its three divisions: Division I, I ...

in 1993, beating Florida 5–2 in Gainesville. With partner Susan Gilchrist she formed the nation's top ranked doubles combination in college tennis, with their win over Laxmi Poruri and Heather Willens securing the title.

Professional tour

As a professional player, Paynter had a best doubles ranking of 112 in the world and won nine doubles titles on the ITF circuit. Her best WTA Tour performances came in 1995 when she reached the doubles semi-finals of tournaments in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. She twice featured in the main draw of the women's doubles at both the

French Open 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 ...

and US Open, before retiring in 1996.

Personal life

Settling in Texas, she is the co-founder of Austin-based web design company Dot Command Center, which she runs with husband Rich Finney.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paynter, Vickie 1971 births Living people American female tennis players People from Denville, New Jersey Sportspeople from Morris County, New Jersey Tennis people from New Jersey Texas Longhorns women's tennis players