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Anke Huber
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Anke Huber (born December 4, 1974) is a former professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1996 Australian Open. Her career-high singles ranking was fourth, also in 1996.
Early lifeHuber was born in Bruchsal, Germany. She started playing tennis at the age of seven, after being introduced to the game by her father, Edgar. In junior competition, she won the under-12 German Championships in 1986, the under-14s in 1987, the under-16s in 1988, and the European Championships in 1989. She was also a semifinalist at Wimbledon's junior tournament in 1990.
CareerHuber made her Grand Slam tournament debut at the 1990 Australian Open, a year before she graduated from high school. After defeating Maider Leval and Elise Burgin, she was defeated in the third round by 13th seeded Raffaella Reggi. In August 1990, she defeated Marianne Werdel Witmeyer to win the Schenectady tournament, a warm-up for the U.S. Open. Jennifer Capriati then defeated Huber in the first round of that tournament 7–5, 7–5. Huber was the runner-up in her next event, losing in Bayonne to Nathalie Tauziat in straight sets. She finished 1990 ranked 34th in the world.
Huber became Germany's top female tennis player upon Steffi Graf's retirement in 1999. Only two years later, however, it was Huber's turn to hang up her racquet. She cited a persistent ankle injury and the desire for a "normal life" as the reasons for her retirement. She originally planned to quit after the 2002 Australian Open, her favorite tournament, but changed her mind when she unexpectedly qualified for the year-ending Sanex Championships in Germany. "I thought there's nothing better than to celebrate saying goodbye in front of the home fans in your own country," said Huber. Huber's final match took place on October 31, 2001, against Justine Henin, in which she lost 6–1, 6–2.
During her twelve-year professional career, Huber reached 23 singles finals (winning twelve of them), 29 singles semifinals, and 50 singles quarterfinals. Her career record in singles was 447-225, and she amassed US$4,768,292 in career prize money.
Huber represented her country at three levels: the Olympic Games in 1992 in Barcelona and in 1996 in Atlanta; the Fed Cup from 1990 through 1998 and in 2000 and 2001, helping Germany to victory in 1992 by beating Spain's Conchita Martinez in the final); and the Hopman Cup, which she won with Boris Becker in 1995.
Although she did not win a Grand Slam title, Huber felt proud of her accomplishments, especially because she had to walk in Graf's footsteps. "I recognised pretty early on that I would never have her success, but I was still always measured against her," she says. "So, whenever I got into the quarterfinals or the semis of a Grand Slam tournament, it counted for nothing. Sometimes it was good to have her, because she drew the attention away from me," Huber continued. "On the other side, there was always the pressure to be the second Steffi Graf."
In 2002, Huber accepted a role with the German Tennis Federation and became the co-tournament director for the annual Porsche Tennis Grand Prix WTA tournament in Filderstadt, Germany.
Personal lifeIn April 2005, Huber gave birth to her first child, a boy (Moritz Luca), to her partner Roger Wittmann. A second, a girl (Laura Sophie), followed in October 2006.
Grand Slam singles finalsRunner-up (1)| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final | 1996 | Australian Open | Monica Seles | 6–4, 6–1 |
Titles (13)Singles (12)| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score | | 1. | August 26, 1990 | Schenectady, U.S. | Hard | | 6–1, 5–7, 6–4 | | 2. | October 20, 1991 | Filderstadt, Germany | Carpet | Martina Navrátilová | 2–6, 6–2, 7–6(4) | | 3. | July 18, 1993 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Clay | Judith Wiesner | 6–4, 6–1 | | 4. | July 31, 1994 | Styria, Austria | Clay | | 6–3, 6–3 | | 5. | October 16, 1994 | Filderstadt, Germany | Hard | Mary Pierce | 6–4, 6–2 | | 6. | November 13, 1994 | Philadelphia, USA | Carpet | | 6–0, 6–7, 7–5 | | 7. | September 25, 1995 | Leipzig, Germany | Carpet | Magdalena Maleeva | walkover | | 8. | June 17, 1996 | Rosmalen, Netherlands | Grass | Helena Suková | 6–4, 7–6(2) | | 9. | September 30, 1996 | Leipzig, Germany | Carpet | Iva Majoli | 5–7, 6–3, 6–1 | | 10. | October 21, 1996 | Luxembourg, Luxembourg | Carpet | Karina Habšudová | 6–3, 6–0 | | 11. | April 10, 2000 | Estoril, Portugal | Clay | Nathalie Dechy | 6–2, 1–6, 7–5 | | 12. | July 17, 2000 | Sopot, Poland | Clay | Gala León García | 7–6(4), 6–3 |
Doubles (1)
Singles runners-up (11)
Grand Slam singles performance timeline| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | Career SR |
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| Australian Open | 3R | QF | QF | 4R | 3R | 4R | F | 4R | SF | 2R | 1R | A | 0 / 11 | | French Open | A | 3R | 2R | SF | 4R | 4R | 4R | 1R | A | A | 4R | 2R | 0 / 9 | | Wimbledon | 2R | 4R | 3R | 4R | 2R | 4R | 3R | 3R | A | 1R | 4R | 4R | 0 / 11 | | U.S. Open | 1R | 2R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 4R | 1R | 3R | 1R | QF | QF | 3R | 0 / 12 | | SR | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 43 |
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
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