Zina Lynna Garrison (born November 16, 1963) is an American former professional tennis player. Garrison was the runner-up in singles at the

1990 Wimbledon Championships The 1990 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 104th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held ...

, a three-time

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

mixed doubles champion, and an Olympic gold and bronze medalist from the women's doubles and singles events, respectively, at the

1988 Seoul Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

. Garrison reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 on 20 November 1989.

Career

The youngest of seven children, Garrison started playing tennis at the age of 10 and entered her first tournament at the age of 12. At 14, she won the national girls' 18s title. In 1981, she won both the Wimbledon and US Open junior titles and was ranked the world No. 1 junior player. Garrison graduated from Sterling High School in Houston, Texas in 1982.ESPN Classic – Garrison's biggest rally came off the court
at espn.go.com (retrieved 2009-04-13) Garrison began suffering from the eating disorder bulimia when she was 19, following the death of her mother. "I had never been comfortable with my looks and felt I had lost the only person who loved me unconditionally", Garrison told the ''

Observer Sport Monthly ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to '' The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' in 2006. "The pressure of being labeled 'the next Althea Gibson' only made things worse. I felt I was never going to be allowed to grow into just becoming me." Garrison turned professional in 1982, and skipped her graduation at Ross Sterling High School to compete in 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 ...

, her first tournament as a professional, where she reached the quarterfinals. She was awarded the

WTA Newcomer of the Year This article lists the WTA Awards given by the Women's Tennis Association to players and coaches for achievements during a season or their careers. Player of the Year Doubles Team of the Year Most Improved Player Newcomer of the Ye ...

in 1982. Despite battling bulimia during her first few years on the tour, Garrison enjoyed notable success on-court. She reached the

Australian Open 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 ...

semifinals in 1983, her first full year on the tour, and finished the year ranked world No. 10. She won her first top-level singles titles in 1984 at the European Indoor Championships in Zürich. In 1985, Garrison beat world no. 3

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 ...

and world no. 2

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 ...

on her way to winning the

Amelia Island Championships The Amelia Island Championships was a women's tennis tournament held in Amelia Island Plantation and later Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, United States. The Women's Tennis Association event was an International series tournament played on outdoor gr ...

. She was also a Wimbledon semifinalist in 1985, and in 1986, she won her first tour doubles at the Canadian Open (partnering Gabriela Sabatini). At the Australian Open in 1987, Garrison won the mixed doubles (partnering

Sherwood Stewart Sherwood Stewart (born June 6, 1946) is a former professional tennis player who was active in the 1970s and 1980s. Stewart was ranked as high as No. 60 in the world in singles on the ATP Rankings on December 31, 1978, and No. 4 in doubles on J ...

) and finished runner-up in the women's doubles (partnering Lori McNeil). A year later, Garrison and Stewart captured the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Garrison teamed with

Pam Shriver Pamela Howard Shriver (born July 4, 1962) is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis broadcaster and pundit. During the 1980s and 1990s, Shriver won 133 titles, including 21 singles titles, 111 women's doubles titles, an ...

to win the women's doubles gold medal for the United States, defeating Jana Novotná and

Helena Suková Helena Suková () (born 23 February 1965) is a Czech former professional tennis player. During her career, she won 14 major doubles titles, nine in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. She is also a two-time Olympic silver medalist in doub ...

of Czechoslovakia in the final. Garrison defeated Shriver in the quarterfinals of the singles event, where she won a bronze medal. At the US Open, she defeated defending champion Navratilova for the first time in her career, advancing to the semifinals, where she lost to Sabatini. In 1989, Garrison defeated

7–6, 6–2 in the quarterfinals of the US Open in Evert's final tournament. Garrison lost to Navratilova in the semifinals. She finished 1989 ranked a career-high world No. 4 in singles. The highlight of Garrison's career came in 1990 at Wimbledon, as she defeated Samantha Smith, Cecilia Dahlman, Andrea Leand,

, then French Open champion Monica Seles in the quarterfinals 3–6, 6–3, 9–7, and defending Wimbledon champion and world No. 1

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

in the semifinals 6–3, 3–6, 6–4 to reach her only Grand Slam singles final, becoming the first African-American woman to do so since Gibson. Moreover, it ended Graf's record 13-time streak of Grand Slam finals. Then, she lost to Navratilova 6–4, 6–1, who thus won her record ninth women's singles title at Wimbledon. Garrison claimed her third mixed doubles title at Wimbledon that year (partnering Rick Leach). In 1992, Garrison finished runner-up in the Australian Open women's doubles (partnering Mary Joe Fernandez). At Wimbledon in 1994, Garrison beat world no. 2

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario Arantza or Arantxa is a Basque feminine given name, meaning "thornbush". It is a hypocoristic for '' Our Lady of Arantzazu'', a shrine of Mary, mother of Jesus, in Gipuzkoa. People with the name Arantxa include: Tennis * Arantxa Parra Santonj ...

on the way to her 15th and final Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance. Garrison retired from professional tennis in 1996. From 1982 to 1995, she remained uninterrupted in the world's top 25. During her career, she won 14 top-level singles titles and 20 doubles titles.

Personal life and post-tennis career

Garrison married Willard Jackson in September 1989; however, the marriage ended in divorce in 1997. Since retiring from the tour, Garrison has worked as a television commentator and maintained active roles in the community and in tennis. She founded the Zina Garrison Foundation for the Homeless in 1988, and the Zina Garrison All-Court Tennis Program, which supports inner-city tennis in Houston, in 1992. She has also served as a member of the United States President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. She is a member of

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...

sorority. Garrison has maintained a presence on the professional tennis scene, and was the captain for the U.S. Federation Cup (later Fed Cup) team. Garrison also led the U.S. women's team at the 2008 Beijing Games tennis event where team members Venus and Serena Williams won a gold medal in doubles. After "piling on weight" in her 40s, Garrison participated in season 16 of the reality TV competition '' The Biggest Loser'', titled '' The Biggest Loser: Glory Days'', which premiered September 11, 2014 on NBC. Despite losing 8 lbs., she was the first person eliminated from the program."The Biggest Loser" Season 16: Zina Garrison
LA Times

Playing style

Garrison played an attacking style. It was common for her to slice her backhand and attack the net (a chip-and-charge tactic). Garrison had excellent volleys and overheads. She was able to rally when she wanted to but her main game plan was to get to the net so she could finish with the volley.

Major finals

Grand Slam tournaments

Singles: 1 (1 runner–up)

Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Mixed doubles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Olympics

Singles: 1 bronze medal

Garrison lost in the semifinals to

2–6, 0–6. In 1988, there was no bronze medal play-off match, both beaten semifinal players received bronze medals.

Doubles: 1 gold medal

WTA career finals

Singles: 36 (14–22)

Doubles: 46 (20–26)

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Mixed doubles

References

Bibliography

* A. P. Porter, ''Zina Garrison: Ace'', First Ave. Editions, 1992

External links

* * * *
ESPN biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Garrison, Zina 1963 births African-American female tennis players American female tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions Hopman Cup competitors Living people Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in tennis Olympic gold medalists for the United States in tennis Tennis commentators Tennis players from Houston Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Wimbledon champions Wimbledon junior champions US Open (tennis) junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American women