Tracy Austin Interview at the Avon Championships of Florida (January 22, 1979)

Tracy Ann Austin Holt (born December 12, 1962) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. She won two Grand Slam titles, the women's singles titles at the 1979 and 1981 US Opens, and the mixed doubles title at the 1980 Wimbledon Championships. Additionally, she won the WTA Tour Championships in 1980 and the year-ending Toyota Championships in 1981, both in singles.

Austin remains the youngest US Open female singles champion (age 16) and the youngest inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame at age 29. She won thirty singles titles during her career, on all playing surfaces: clay (both red and green), indoor carpet, grass, and hard courts. A series of injuries and a serious automobile accident in 1989 cut short her career.[4][5]

Early life
Tracy Austin was born December 12, 1962 in Palos Verdes Peninsula, California.[6] Her parents were George and Jeanne Austin.[7]

Career

Tracy Austin playing in the Los Angeles Junior Tennis Tournament
1977 to 1980
In January 1977, a month after turning fourteen, Austin won her first professional singles title, defeating Stacy Margolin at the Avon Futures event in Portland.[8][9] As an amateur she could not accept the prize money.[10][8] At her Wimbledon debut in 1977 she reached the third round where she lost to top-seeded Chris Evert. In September, she made her US Open debut and reached the quarterfinal, falling to fifth-seeded Betty Stöve.[11]

Less than two months before her sixteenth birthday, Austin turned professional in October 1978.[12] That same month, she won her first professional singles title, defeating Betty Stöve in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Filderstadt, West Germany.[13][14]

She followed up with tournament wins in Tokyo and Washington, defeating Martina Navratilova in both finals.[15] Austin defeated 35-year-old Billie Jean King in the quarterfinals of the 1979 Wimbledon Championships, then lost to Navratilova in straight sets in the semifinals. Austin then became the youngest ever US Open champion, aged 16 years and 9 months, by defeating second-seeded Navratilova in the semifinals and first-seeded Chris Evert in the final.[16][11] Evert had been attempting to win the title for the fifth consecutive year.[11] Earlier that year, Austin ended Evert's 125-match winning streak on clay by beating her in three sets in a semifinal of the Italian Open.[17][16]

The Associated Press named Austin its Female Athlete of the Year for 1979.[18]

Austin lost in the semifinals of both Grand Slam tournaments she played in 1980. Evonne Goolagong Cawley, seeded fourth and the eventual champion, defeated Austin at the Wimbledon Championships. As the top seed and defending champion at the US Open, Austin was expected to extend her five-match winning streak against third-ranked Evert. Austin took a 4–0 lead in the first set before Evert won 16 of the final 20 games to win the match. Evert went on to beat Hana Mandlíková in the final. Austin was ranked the world No. 1 singles player in 1980 for two weeks (April 7–20) and then for 19 weeks (July 7-November 17), partly because she captured the two tour-ending events. Austin defeated Navratilova to win the Avon Championships in March and Andrea Jaeger to capture the 1980 Colgate Series Championships in January 1981. In 1980, Austin won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with her brother John, becoming the first brother and sister team to win a Grand Slam title together.[1]