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Mary Pierce
Mary Caroline Pierce (born 15 January 1975) is a French former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 3 in singles and in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Pierce won 18 singles titles on the WTA Tour, including two majors at the 1995 Australian Open and the 2000 French Open, and five Tier I singles events. Pierce was a finalist at a further four singles majors, and twice at the Tour Finals.
In doubles, Pierce won 10 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including two major titles at the 2000 French Open in women's doubles partnering Martina Hingis, and at the 2005 Wimbledon Championships in mixed doubles partnering Mahesh Bhupathi. She was also a runner-up in women's doubles at the 2000 Australian Open, partnering Hingis.
Pierce was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2019. She is the most recent Frenchwoman to win the French Open singles title.
Mary Pierce was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Yannick Adjaj and Jim Pierce. Her mother is French and her father American, qualifying Pierce for citizenship in all three countries. She was raised in the United States and represented France in international tennis competitions. She speaks English and French fluently, and lives in Mauritius as of May 2019.
Pierce was briefly engaged to baseball player Roberto Alomar in 1999 and later to Air France pilot David Emmanuel Ades, but broke off both engagements.
Pierce had a difficult relationship with her father, who developed a reputation as an abusive tennis father, threatening and even attacking her as well as others. Pierce refused to speak with him for a while and even employed two bodyguards to keep him at bay —and the Women's Tennis Association introduced the "Jim Pierce rule" that made it possible to ban parents and coaches from tournaments— but later, the two were eventually reconciled sometime after she retired from active professional tennis.
Pierce is a born again Christian. After a loss in early months of 2000 (before the French Open which she would win), she said she felt "empty and miserable", but then "I gave my life to Jesus and was born again... things in me changed instantly." Pierce also credits this change in spiritual direction to her pre-existing friendship with another tennis pro, Linda Wild.[citation needed]
Pierce started playing tennis at the age of ten. Two years after being introduced to tennis, for girls aged 12 and under she was ranked No. 2 in the country. In April 1989 at a WTA tournament in Hilton Head, Pierce became the youngest American player (prior to Jennifer Capriati in 1990) to make her debut on the professional tour, aged 14 years and 2 months. Due to her physicality and aggressive approach, her ballstriking was compared to that of Capriati, and she quickly gained a reputation for being one of the hardest hitters on the women's circuit. Her dad developed an interest in the sport, and became her coach for many years. She won her first WTA Tour singles tournament in July 1991 in Palermo by defeating Sandra Cecchini in the final.
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Mary Pierce
Mary Caroline Pierce (born 15 January 1975) is a French former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 3 in singles and in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Pierce won 18 singles titles on the WTA Tour, including two majors at the 1995 Australian Open and the 2000 French Open, and five Tier I singles events. Pierce was a finalist at a further four singles majors, and twice at the Tour Finals.
In doubles, Pierce won 10 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including two major titles at the 2000 French Open in women's doubles partnering Martina Hingis, and at the 2005 Wimbledon Championships in mixed doubles partnering Mahesh Bhupathi. She was also a runner-up in women's doubles at the 2000 Australian Open, partnering Hingis.
Pierce was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2019. She is the most recent Frenchwoman to win the French Open singles title.
Mary Pierce was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Yannick Adjaj and Jim Pierce. Her mother is French and her father American, qualifying Pierce for citizenship in all three countries. She was raised in the United States and represented France in international tennis competitions. She speaks English and French fluently, and lives in Mauritius as of May 2019.
Pierce was briefly engaged to baseball player Roberto Alomar in 1999 and later to Air France pilot David Emmanuel Ades, but broke off both engagements.
Pierce had a difficult relationship with her father, who developed a reputation as an abusive tennis father, threatening and even attacking her as well as others. Pierce refused to speak with him for a while and even employed two bodyguards to keep him at bay —and the Women's Tennis Association introduced the "Jim Pierce rule" that made it possible to ban parents and coaches from tournaments— but later, the two were eventually reconciled sometime after she retired from active professional tennis.
Pierce is a born again Christian. After a loss in early months of 2000 (before the French Open which she would win), she said she felt "empty and miserable", but then "I gave my life to Jesus and was born again... things in me changed instantly." Pierce also credits this change in spiritual direction to her pre-existing friendship with another tennis pro, Linda Wild.[citation needed]
Pierce started playing tennis at the age of ten. Two years after being introduced to tennis, for girls aged 12 and under she was ranked No. 2 in the country. In April 1989 at a WTA tournament in Hilton Head, Pierce became the youngest American player (prior to Jennifer Capriati in 1990) to make her debut on the professional tour, aged 14 years and 2 months. Due to her physicality and aggressive approach, her ballstriking was compared to that of Capriati, and she quickly gained a reputation for being one of the hardest hitters on the women's circuit. Her dad developed an interest in the sport, and became her coach for many years. She won her first WTA Tour singles tournament in July 1991 in Palermo by defeating Sandra Cecchini in the final.