Sylvia Hanika

Country	Germany[1]
Residence	La Manga, Spain
Date of birth	30 November 1959 (1959-11-30) (age 50)
Place of birth	Munich, West Germany
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	68.0 kg (150 lb; 10.71 st)
Turned pro	1977
Retired	1990
Plays	Left-handed
Career prize money	$1,296,560
Singles
Career record	378–223
Career titles	4
Highest ranking	No. 5 (12 September 1983)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (1983)
French Open	F (1981)
Wimbledon	4R (1982, 1987)
US Open	QF (1979, 1981, 1983, 1984)
Major tournaments
WTA Championships	W (1982)
Doubles
Career record	47–48
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 92 (14 August 1989)

Sylvia Hanika (born 30 November 1959 in Munich, West Germany) is a former professional tennis player from Germany. She is best remembered for finishing runner-up at the French Open in 1981, and for winning the Avon Championships in 1982. She was ranked as high as No. 5 in the world and played left-handed.

[edit] Career

Hanika turned professional in 1977. In 1981, Hanika reached the women's singles final at the French Open, where she was defeated 6–2, 6–4 by Hana Mandlíková.

In 1982, Hanika posted the biggest win of her career when she defeated World No. 2 Martina Navrátilová 1–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the final of the Avon Series Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Garden was also the site of Hanika's last big singles win: a 6–4 6–4 defeat of #3 Chris Evert in the first round of the Virginia Slims Championships in 1987.

Hanika won her final top-level singles title in Athens in 1986. She retired from the tour in 1990, having won four professional singles titles and one doubles title.

Between serves she was known to bounce the ball more than anyone tennis commentator and historian Bud Collins remembers: ". . . as many as into the 30s. If she faulted on the first, it was awful, another 30 or so bounces."^[2]

[edit] Major finals

[edit] Grand Slam final

[edit] Singles: 1 (0-1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1981	French Open	Clay	Hana Mandlíková	6–2, 6–4

[edit] Year-End Championships final

[edit] Singles: 1 (1-0)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1982	New York City	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	1–6, 6–3, 6–4

[edit] Titles (5)

[edit] Singles (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	23 February 1981	Seattle, USA	Carpet (I)	Barbara Potter	6–2, 6–4
2.	22 March 1982	Avon Championships, New York City	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
3.	22 October 1984	Brighton, UK	Carpet (I)	JoAnne Russell Longdon	6–3, 1–6, 6–2
4.	15 September 1986	Athens, Greece	Clay	Angelikí Kanellopoúlou	7–5, 6–0

[edit] Doubles (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1.	28 November 1988	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Lori McNeil Jana Novotná	7–5, 6–7(4), 6–4

[edit] Singles runner-ups (16)

Grand slam events in boldface.

[edit] Grand Slam singles performance timeline

A = did not participate in the tournament.

NH = tournament not held.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

[edit] See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Sylvia Hanika profile on the WTA Tour's official website
• Sylvia Hanika at the International Tennis Federation
• Sylvia Hanika at the Fed Cup

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