Nicole Bradtke (née Provis) (born 22 September 1969) is a retired 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 Australia. Bradtke won three singles and nine doubles titles on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tou ...

. She reached the semifinals of the

1988 French Open The 1988 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 23 May until 5 June. It was the 92nd staging of the French Open, and the second Gran ...

, and won a bronze medal in doubles at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, partnering Rachel McQuillan. In mixed doubles, she reached four Grand Slam finals, winning two of those partnering

Mark Woodforde Mark Raymond Woodforde, OAM (born 23 September 1965) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. He is best known as one half of " The Woodies", a doubles partnership with Todd Woodbridge. Woodforde was born in Adelaide, and joine ...

. Bradtke reached career-high rankings of No. 24 in singles and No. 11 in doubles. She retired from professional tennis in 1997 after a shoulder injury.

Professional career

The young Nicole Provis (Bradtke) started playing tennis at the age of seven. Whilst still at school, she played her first professional tennis match in 1985, and made her debut at the Australian Open later that year. She found early success in mixed doubles, finishing runner-up at the 1987 Wimbledon Championships with

Darren Cahill Darren Cahill (born 2 October 1965) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Australia. In addition, Cahill is a tennis analyst for the Grand Slam events on the US sports network ESPN and a coach with the Adidas Player Devel ...

. Bradtke burst into prominence in 1988, when she made the semifinals of the French Open as a relative unknown. She beat Sybille Niox-Château, Emmanuelle Derly before defeating two seeded players, Claudia Kohde-Kilsch and Sylvia Hanika, as well as

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Aránzazu Isabel María "Arantxa" Sánchez Vicario (; born 18 December 1971) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. She won 14 Grand Slam titles: four in singles, six in women's doubles, and four in mixed doubles. She also won four Ol ...

(who had earlier beaten Chris Evert) before losing to

Natasha Zvereva Natallia Marataŭna Zvierava ( be, Наталля Маратаўна Зверава; russian: Наталья Маратовна Зверева, Natalia Maratovna Zvereva; born 16 April 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Belarus ...

, despite holding two match points. In early 1989, she reached the top 30, but failed to fulfill her early promise and quickly settled into the lower top 100 range, despite making further fourth rounds at the

1989 Australian Open The 1989 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 77th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 16 through 29 January 1989. Seniors Men's s ...

and the 1990 French Open and winning her first title at home in Brisbane in 1992. She then went on to great success in mixed doubles, winning both the

1992 Australian Open The 1992 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Flinders Park in Melbourne, Australia and was held from 13 through 26 January 1992. It was the 80th edition of the Australian Open and the first Grand Slam tourna ...

and the 1992 US Open with her partner,

; and women's doubles, earning a bronze medal at the

in Barcelona. She enjoyed a minor resurgence in singles in 1993, winning her second tour title in Kuala Lumpur and reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open. She also earned her biggest career victory during that year, beating world No. 1 Steffi Graf in a Fed Cup tie. Bradtke later helped Australia to reach the final, where they lost to the Spanish team. After playing only eight events in 1994, she dropped out of the top 100, before recovering in 1995, earning another big victory over

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 ...

at the tournament in Berlin and returning to the top 40 in the world. Bradtke retired after the 1997 Australian Open.

Personal life

She is married to Mark Bradtke, a former Australian professional basketball player, since 1994. Together they have two boys, Austin (born 2000) and Jensen (born 2004), and run an indoor sports centre in Melbourne. She previously served as a coach for the Australian Fed Cup team, as well as undertaking private coaching. She has worked with fellow Australians

Samantha Stosur Samantha Jane Stosur ( ; born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks. Also a former top ten s ...

and Alicia Molik. In 2007, she joined the National High Performance Academy team. Her sister Natasha is married to

Todd Woodbridge Todd Andrew Woodbridge, OAM (born 2 April 1971) is an Australian former professional tennis player and current sports broadcaster with the Nine Network. Woodbridge is best known for his successful Doubles partnerships with Mark Woodforde (n ...

, making him her brother-in-law. Her eldest son Austin was selected by the Melbourne Football Club as a category B rookie and will join the club from 2019.

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runners-up)

WTA career finals

Singles (3–1)

Doubles (9–4)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles (4–0)

Doubles (0–1)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradtke, Nicole 1969 births Living people Australian female tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions Hopman Cup competitors Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic tennis players of Australia Sportswomen from Victoria (Australia) Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in tennis Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Tennis players from Melbourne Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Australian Open (tennis) junior champions 20th-century Australian women People educated at Mentone Girls' Grammar School