Jill Craybas

Last updated
Jill Craybas
Craybas WMQ13-010.jpg
Craybas at Wimbledon, 2013
Country (sports)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Residence Huntington Beach, California
Born (1974-07-04) July 4, 1974 (age 49)
Providence, Rhode Island
Height1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Turned pro1996
Retired2013
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
College University of Florida
Prize moneyUS$ 2,552,154
Singles
Career record434–452 (49.0%)
Career titles1 WTA, 4 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 39 (April 17, 2006)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open 3R (2004)
French Open 2R (2001, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011)
Wimbledon 4R (2005)
US Open 2R (2004, 2005, 2006, 2009)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games 1R (2008)
Doubles
Career record163–244 (40.0%)
Career titles5 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 41 (June 23, 2008)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open 2R (2006, 2007, 2011)
French Open QF (2004)
Wimbledon 3R (2007)
US Open 2R (2004, 2005, 2006, 2012)
Mixed doubles
Career record9–10
Career titles0
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon 2R (2006, 2008)
US Open SF (2008)
Team competitions
Fed Cup 3–5

Jill N. Craybas (born July 4, 1974) is an American former professional tennis player.

Contents

From the 2000 US Open to the 2011 US Open, Craybas competed in 45 consecutive Grand Slam tournament main draws; her best result coming in the 2005 Wimbledon Championships where she reached the fourth round, which included wins over Marion Bartoli and Serena Williams. By the time she retired in 2013, she was one of the oldest players on the WTA Tour at 39 years of age, as well as the longest serving, having turned pro in 1996.

Early years

Craybas was born in Providence, Rhode Island. During commenting the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open women's singles final, she said she is of Polish descent. She received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she played for coach Andy Brandi's Florida Gators women's tennis team in National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and Southeastern Conference (SEC) competition from 1993 to 1996. As a senior, she won the 1996 NCAA women's singles tennis championship. She was the 1995–96 recipient of the Honda Sports Award for Tennis, recognizing her as the outstanding collegiate female tennis player of the year. [1] [2]

Craybas graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications in 1996, and has said in interviews that she hopes to enter film or television production when her playing career ends. She was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2008. [3] [4]

Craybas credits her achievements to her long-time coach, Raja Chaudhuri who has worked with her from the start of her tennis career.

Professional career

Craybas turned professional in 1996. She won one title on the WTA Tour, at the Japan Open. She beat Silvija Talaja in the final, after trailing 4–0 in the third set. In the 2006 season, Craybas reached one quarterfinal at Hobart as the eighth seed, losing to unseeded Italian Mara Santangelo in three sets. She also reached the semifinals of a Tier-III event in Memphis, a fourth-round showing at the Tier-I event in Key Biscayne, Florida and a further quarterfinal appearance at Stanford in late July.

Craybas is best known for her 2005 defeat of Serena Williams in the third round of Wimbledon. She beat Williams 6–3, 7–6, then lost to Serena's older sister, and eventual champion, Venus Williams 0–6, 2–6.

On March 25, 2006, Craybas once again served up an early round defeat of a top-seeded player. This time it was second-seeded Kim Clijsters in the second round of the Key Biscayne WTA Tour tournament. After having led in both the first and third sets, Clijsters eventually lost by a score of 5–7, 6–3, 5–7. It was Clijsters earliest ever exit in Key Biscayne, and she was the defending champion.

By that time Craybas, then a veteran on the tour, was thought to be playing the best tennis of her life. However, after having a successful start to 2006, she fell short of what was expected of her from her dramatically impressive start, losing to lower-ranked opponents in first rounds or having difficult first round draws against the top players in the world.

She began 2007 by reaching the semifinals of a Tier-IV event in New Zealand, the Auckland Open. She beat all of her opponents in straight sets before bowing out to Vera Zvonareva, 3–6, 5–7. She next took part in the Tier-II event in Sydney, where she lost in the last round of qualifying to Vera Dushevina, 1–6, 6–3, 1–6. At the first Grand Slam tournament of the year at the Australian Open, she suffered a first-round loss to the tenth-seeded Nicole Vaidišová. Craybas bounced back into winning form at her next tournament in the U.S., at an ITF tournament in Midland, Michigan. As the top-seeded, she beat all of her opponents in straight sets until a hard-fought 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 victory over second-seeded and fellow American Laura Granville. Because of her lower ranking, she suffered in tough draws, not going further than the second round of any tournament since.

Jill Craybas at the 2008 US Open Jill-craybas.png
Jill Craybas at the 2008 US Open

At the start of 2008, Craybas entered the Pattaya Open, where, as the seventh seed, she played some of the best tennis of her career and beat Olga Savchuk 6–1, 6–1 in the first round, Renata Voráčová 2–6, 6–1, 6–3 in the second, and Andreja Klepač 6–4, 6–4 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, she beat Akgul Amanmuradova 6–4, 6–0, and lost to the top seed Agnieszka Radwańska in a tie-break in the third set. As a result, Craybas's ranking improved from world No. 77 to No. 60.

Craybas won the 2008 Istanbul Cup in doubles.

She represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the women's singles tournament. She became the last qualifier for the event, replacing Tamira Paszek of Austria. [5] The opening came available when fellow American Ashley Harkleroad elected to skip the games after she became pregnant. [6] At the US Open 2013, Craybas announced her retirement from tennis. [7]

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments
Tier I
Tier II
Tier III, IV & V (1–1)
ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1. Oct 2002 Japan Open Hard Flag of Croatia.svg Silvija Talaja 2–6, 6–4, 6–4
Loss1. Feb 2008 Pattaya Open, ThailandHard Flag of Poland.svg Agnieszka Radwańska 2–6, 6–1, 6–7(4)

Doubles: 14 (5 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments
Tier I / Premier M & Premier 5
Tier II / Premier
Tier III, IV & V / International (5–9)
ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1.May 2003 Madrid Open, SpainClay Flag of South Africa.svg Liezel Huber Flag of Italy.svg Rita Grande
Flag of Indonesia.svg Angelique Widjaja
6–4, 7–6(6)
Win2. Aug 2004 Cincinnati Open, United StatesHard Flag of Germany.svg Marlene Weingärtner Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Emmanuelle Gagliardi
Flag of Germany.svg Anna-Lena Grönefeld
7–5, 7–6(2)
Loss1. Oct 2004 Luxembourg Open Hard Flag of Germany.svg Marlene Weingärtner Flag of Spain.svg Virginia Ruano Pascual
Flag of Argentina.svg Paola Suárez
1–6, 7–6(1), 3–6
Loss2. Sep 2005 Korea Open Hard Flag of South Africa.svg Natalie Grandin Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg Chan Yung-jan
Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg Chuang Chia-jung
2–6, 4–6
Loss3. Jan 2006 Hobart International, AustraliaHard Flag of Croatia.svg Jelena Kostanić Flag of France.svg Émilie Loit
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Nicole Pratt
2–6, 1–6
Loss4. Jun 2006 Birmingham Classic, UKGrass Flag of South Africa.svg Liezel Huber Flag of Serbia.svg Jelena Janković
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Li Na
2–6, 4–6
Loss5. Oct 2006 Tournoi de Québec, CanadaHard Flag of Russia.svg Alina Jidkova Flag of the United States.svg Carly Gullickson
Flag of the United States.svg Laura Granville
3–6, 4–6
Loss6. Sep 2007 Bali Classic, IndonesiaHard Flag of South Africa.svg Natalie Grandin Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ji Chunmei
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Sun Shengnan
3–6, 2–6
Loss7. Apr 2008 Prague Open, Czech RepublicClay Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michaëlla Krajicek Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Andrea Hlaváčková
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Lucie Hradecká
6–1, 3–6, [6–10]
Win3. May 2008 Istanbul Cup, TurkeyClay Flag of Belarus.svg Olga Govortsova Flag of New Zealand.svg Marina Erakovic
Flag of Slovenia.svg Polona Hercog
6–1, 6–2
Win4. Oct 2008 Japan Open Hard Flag of New Zealand.svg Marina Erakovic Flag of Japan.svg Ayumi Morita
Flag of Japan.svg Aiko Nakamura
4–6, 7–5, [10–6]
Loss8. Nov 2008 Tournoi de Québec, CanadaHard Flag of Thailand.svg Tamarine Tanasugarn Flag of Germany.svg Anna-Lena Grönefeld
Flag of the United States.svg Vania King
6–7(3), 4–6
Loss9. Jul 2010 Palermo Ladies Open, ItalyClay Flag of Germany.svg Julia Görges Flag of Italy.svg Alberta Brianti
Flag of Italy.svg Sara Errani
4–6, 1–6
Win5. Jun 2012 Gastein Ladies, AustriaClay Flag of Germany.svg Julia Görges Flag of Germany.svg Anna-Lena Grönefeld
Flag of Croatia.svg Petra Martić
6–7(4), 6–4, [11–9]

Mixed doubles: 1 (runner-up)

ResultDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss Sep 2004 China Open Tier IIHard Flag of the United States.svg Justin Gimelstob Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Emmanuelle Gagliardi
Flag of the United States.svg Tripp Phillips
1–6, 2–6

Grand Slam performance timelines

Key
W F SFQF#RRRQ#DNQANH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 W–L
Australian Open AAA 1R LQ 1R 2R 1R 3R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R LQ 11–12
French Open AAA LQ A 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R 2R 2R A5–11
Wimbledon AAA LQ LQ 1R 2R 1R 2R 4R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R LQ 6–11
US Open 1R A 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R A10–15
Win–loss0–10–00–10–20–11–42–40–44–44–41–41–41–43–41–42–40–032–49

Doubles

Tournament 1998 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 W–L
Australian Open AA 1R 1R 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R 5–10
French Open AA QF 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R A 1R 4–9
Wimbledon A 2R 1R 1R 1R 3R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R A3–10
US Open 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R A 2R 2R 5–11
Win–loss0–11–24–41–42–43–40–41–40–41–32–32–317–40

See also

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