Sybille Bammer

Sybille Bammer (born 27 April 1980) is a former professional tennis player from Austria. Her career-high ranking is No. 19, which she achieved on 17 December 2007.

She was one of three mothers on the WTA Tour, having taken time off at age 21 to have her daughter Tina before returning to the tour. When she won the 2007 Pattaya Open, it was the first time in 18 years that a mother won on tour, after Laura Arraya in 1989.

Born in Linz, Bammer made her WTA Tour main-draw debut as a wildcard in 2000 at the Klagenfurt event where she lost to German player Andrea Glass. She failed to qualify for Wimbledon, the US Open and her home tournament in Linz.

During 2001 she took a break from tennis to give birth to her daughter, Tina. Ranked No. 238 at the time of her retirement, she believed her tennis career was over. She stayed in the Austrian village of Ottensheim for a year to care for her daughter. The baby's father, boyfriend Christophe Gschwendtner, offered to take a break from his engineering career to take care of Tina so that Bammer could return to the tour.

Upon her post-pregnancy comeback in 2002 she cruised to win her first career singles title at the $10k event in Grenoble. She won another two in the same year at Mostar and Innsbruck, both $25k events on the ITF Circuit. During 2003, she picked up another four $25k singles titles. She also made her debut for Austria in their Fed Cup team.

Her daughter, Tina, was a frequent regular in the crowd. Bammer said of her daughter, "She is always telling other people to be quiet because mommy is concentrating."

In 2005, Bammer made her career breakthrough, soaring into the top 100 in the rankings, including making her Grand Slam main draw debut at the US Open, where she fell in the first round to Martina Suchá as a qualifier. At the Tier-III event in Kolkata, Bammer reached her first-ever WTA quarterfinal event, and then reached her second at the Tier-II event in Linz as a wildcard, defeating Virginie Razzano and Vera Dushevina. She was the first Austrian since Barbara Schett in 2000 to make it to the quarterfinals there. After her impressive run in Linz, she reached a new career-high of No. 77.

At the start of 2006, she achieved her best-ever Grand Slam performance in only her second-ever Grand Slam main draw, making the third round. Two weeks later, she reached her first WTA Tour semifinal at Pattaya City, falling to eventual champion Shahar Pe'er. She reached the third round in Indian Wells before losing to 19th seed Martina Hingis, and the second round in Charleston, losing to top seed Justine Henin-Hardenne. During the Fed Cup, she fell 0–3 in Austria's 5–0 defeat to Spain.