Christine O'Neil (born 19 March 1956) is an Australian former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. O'Neil is best known for her singles victory at the

1978 Australian Open The 1978 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne, Australia and was held from 25 December 1978 to 3 January 1979. It was the 67th edition of the Australian Open and the f ...

, and was the last Australian to win the title until

Ashleigh Barty Ashleigh Jacinta Barty (born 24 April 1996) is an Australian former professional tennis player and cricketer. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Assoc ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. She also became the first unseeded woman to win the title in the

Open era The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...

. O'Neil is also one of the few players who have won both the Australian Open junior (1973) and senior (1978) titles. In 2007, along with her brothers Keith and William, O'Neil took over the Morisset Sports & Tennis Centre located in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

. The centre was subsequently renamed the O'Neil School of Tennis. She then moved on to operate O'Neil's School of Tennis in Cessnock, New South Wales. She has since moved to

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie, sometimes shortened to Port Mac and commonly locally nicknamed Port, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane, on the Tasman Sea coast at the mouth of the ...

and currently coaches.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 title)

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Singles

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oneil, Chris Australian female tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions Australian Open (tennis) junior champions Tennis players from New South Wales 1956 births Living people Sportswomen from New South Wales Sportspeople from Newcastle, New South Wales Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles 20th-century Australian sportswomen