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Joanna Mary Durie (born 27 July 1960) is a former world No. 5 tennis player from the United Kingdom. During her career, she also reached No. 9 in doubles, and won two Grand Slam titles, both in the mixed doubles with Jeremy Bates.
Born in Bristol, England, Jo Durie was the last British woman to reach the semifinal of a Grand Slam tournament until Johanna Konta reached the semifinal of the 2016 Australian Open, and the last British woman to win a major title in any discipline, until Heather Watson won the 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Henri Kontinen.
Her most successful year as a singles player was 1983, ending the season at No. 6 in the world rankings and on the prize money leader board. As an unseeded player Durie reached the semifinals of the French Open, beating both Pam Shriver and Tracy Austin along the way. Later that year she made another Grand Slam singles semifinal appearance at the US Open, where she eventually lost to Chris Evert in straight sets. Her dramatic rise up the singles rankings that year ended with a quarterfinal at the Australian Open in December. Durie's success as a singles player during 1983 gained her a coveted place at the 1984 WTA Tour Championship as the fifth seed.
Her most successful year at Wimbledon as a singles player came in 1984 when she reached the quarterfinals, beating a 15-year-old Steffi Graf in a memorable fourth-round match. It was just after Wimbledon that she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5.
She won two top-level WTA singles titles (both in 1983) at Mahwah, New Jersey and Sydney, and had career wins over Steffi Graf, Zina Garrison, Pam Shriver, Hana Mandlíková, and Tracy Austin. Further back injuries in 1989 led to a remodeling of her service action. Durie made her last appearance in a WTA tour singles final at the Virginia Slims of Newport tournament in 1990. In 1991 at the age of 30, and one of the oldest singles competitors that year, she had another successful run to the fourth round of the US Open.
She was ranked the No. 1 British player for most of her career. She won the British National Singles title a record seven times. She was the second British woman player after Virginia Wade to win $1 million in prize money.
Durie would go on to win five woman's doubles titles from eighteen finals during her career. Her most successful year as a doubles player, aside from the Grand Slams in 1987 and 1991 was in 1983, when she reached six finals, winning three titles. Durie also reached the semifinals of the women's doubles at the French Open and Wimbledon. By virtue of this success she gained a place at the 1984 WTA Tour Championship in doubles, and reached the final partnering Ann Kiyomura.
Durie won the British National Doubles title a record nine times.
She is one of the very few players to have a winning record against Steffi Graf and leads 4–3 in head-to-heads. Note, however, that all of her wins against Graf were before or during 1985, when Graf was typically a much lower-ranked player during the initial stages of her career.
After retiring from the professional tour, Durie had heart surgery to rectify a problem for which she had originally been prescribed Beta blockers early in her career. She did not take the prescribed medication, as she didn't feel well after taking them. She revealed this fact in March 2016 in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, after the revelation that Maria Sharapova had been found taking a similar heart-issue drug, which later had been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.BBC Radio 5 Live, Breakfast show, 8 March 2016
Since retirement, Durie has worked as a TV tennis commentator for both the BBC and British Eurosport. She used to coach British number one Elena Baltacha alongside her own former coach Alan Jones. She won back-to-back Wimbledon Ladies' Senior Invitation doubles titles in 1996 and 1997.
Durie currently works as an academy coach at the FC** Academy in Middlesex.
Doubles career
Partnering her fellow British player Jeremy Bates, Durie won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1987, the first British doubles team to win the title for fifty-one years. In 1991 they became the first British doubles team ever to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title. As of 2013 both of these records still stand. As a team Bates and Durie reached an additional three mixed doubles quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1986, 1990 and 1993. They also reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in 1992 as defending champions.
Team tennis
Durie was a stalwart member of the British Wightman Cup (1979, 1981–89), British Fed Cup (1981–95) and British European Cup teams (1989–92). Durie was the youngest member of the British Federation Cup team, alongside Virginia Wade and Sue Barker, which reached the team final in 1981. Durie led the British team to victory in the European Championship in Prague in 1992.
Retirement
Durie retired from competitive tennis at the Wimbledon Championships in 1995, (her 18th appearance at the Championships), and marked it with a memorable performance. After three successive operations on her left knee, Durie went into the Championships ranked No. 326 in the world, yet reached the second round of the ladies' singles. She beat France's Alexia Dechaume-Balleret, ranked No. 85 in the world, in straight sets in the first round. Her second round, and last singles match at Wimbledon, was against Jana Novotná. Her last match at Wimbledon was a mixed doubles match on Centre Court, where she played alongside her long-standing partner Jeremy Bates.
Significant finals
Grand Slam tournaments
Mixed doubles: 2 (2 titles)
7–6(12–10), 6–3 2–6, 6–4, 6–4
Year-end championships
Doubles: 1 (runner–up)
3–6, 1–6
WTA career finals
Singles: 6 (2–4)
Tier I (0–0) Tier II (0–0) Tier III (0–1) Tier IV (0–0) Tier V (0–0) Virginia Slims, Avon, other (2–3) Loss 0–1 Jun 1980 Beckenham, UK Grass Andrea Jaeger 4–6, 1–6 Loss 0–2 Feb 1982 Greenville, U.S. Hard (i) Cláudia Monteiro 4–6, 6–3, 4–6 Win 1–2 Aug 1983 Mahwah, U.S. Hard Hana Mandlíková 2–6, 7–5, 6–4 Loss 1–3 Oct 1983 Brighton, UK Carpet (i) Chris Evert 1–6, 1–6 Win 2–3 Nov 1983 Sydney, Australia Grass Kathy Jordan 6–3, 7–5 Loss 2–4 Jul 1990 Newport, U.S. Grass Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6–7(2–7), 6–4, 5–7
Doubles: 18 (5–13)
Tour Championships (0–1) Tier I (0–0) Tier II (0–3) Tier III (0–1) Tier IV (1–0) Tier V (0–1) Virginia Slims, Avon, other (4–7) Loss 1. Jun 1979 Beckenham, UK Grass Debbie Jevans Elizabeth Little
Kerryn Pratt1–6, 4–6 Win 1. Jun 1982 Aegon Classic, UK Grass Anne Hobbs Rosie Casals
Wendy Turnbull6–3, 6–2 Loss 2. Jan 1983 Houston, U.S. Carpet (I) Barbara Potter Martina Navratilova
Pam Shriver4–6, 3–6 Win 2. Mar 1983 Boston, U.S. Carpet (i) Ann Kiyomura Kathy Jordan
Anne Smith6–3, 6–1 Win 3. May 1983 Berlin, Germany Clay Anne Hobbs Claudia Kohde-Kilsch
Eva Pfaff6–4, 7–6 Loss 3. Jun 1983 Eastbourne, UK Grass Anne Hobbs Martina Navratilova
Pam Shriver1–6, 0–6 Win 4. Aug 1983 Mahwah, U.S. Hard Sharon Walsh Rosalyn Fairbank
Candy Reynolds4–6, 7–5, 6–3 Loss 4. Oct 1983 Brighton, UK Carpet (i) Ann Kiyomura Chris Evert-Lloyd
Pam Shriver5–7, 4–6 Loss 5. Feb 1984 Livingston, U.S. Carpet (i) Ann Kiyomura Martina Navratilova
Pam Shriver4–6, 3–6 Loss 6. Feb 1984 VS Championships, U.S. Carpet (i) Ann Kiyomura Martina Navratilova
Pam Shriver3–6, 1–6 Loss 7. Jun 1984 Eastbourne, UK Grass Ann Kiyomura Martina Navratilova
Pam Shriver4–6, 2–6 Loss 8. Aug 1984 Mahwah, U.S. Hard Ann Kiyomura Martina Navratilova
Pam Shriver6–7(3–7), 6–3, 2–6 Loss 9. Mar 1989 Boca Raton, U.S. Hard Mary Joe Fernández Jana Novotná
Helena Suková4–6, 2–6 Win 5. Apr 1990 Singapore Hard Jill Hetherington Pascale Paradis
Catherine Suire6–4, 6–1 Loss 10. Sep 1990 Leipzig, Germany Carpet (i) Manon Bollegraf Lise Gregory
Gretchen Magers2–6, 6–4, 3–6 Loss 11. Oct 1990 Brighton, UK Carpet (i) Natasha Zvereva Helena Suková
Nathalie Tauziat1–6, 4–6 Loss 12. Sep 1991 St. Petersburg, Russia Carpet (i) Isabelle Demongeot Elena Brioukhovets
Natalia Medvedeva5–7, 3–6 Loss 13. Feb 1993 Paris, France Carpet (i) Catherine Suire Jana Novotná
Andrea Strnadová6–7(2–7), 2–6
Grand Slam performance timelines
Singles
Australian Open A A A A A 3R 3R QF 2R 3R NH 4R 2R 3R 2R 2R 2R A A A French Open A A A 1R 1R 2R SF 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R A 1R 3R A A A Wimbledon 1R 1R 2R 1R 4R 1R 3R QF 4R 3R 3R 2R A 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R US Open A A A A 4R 3R SF 1R 1R 3R 2R 1R 1R 1R 4R 1R 1R A A Year-end ranking NR 123 73 53 31 28 8 24 26 24 73 60 118 64 60 60 192 343 292
Doubles
Australian Open A A A A A 2R 2R QF 2R SF NH QF 1R QF 1R 1R 2R A A A French Open A A A 1R 3R 3R SF 1R A 2R A A 2R A A A A A A Wimbledon 1R A 3R 1R 1R 2R SF SF QF 1R 1R 3R A 2R 1R 2R 2R 1R 2R US Open A A 2R A 3R 2R 2R 3R 2R 1R QF 2R 2R 1R QF 2R 2R A A Year-end ranking 10 25 42 43 43 36 39 70 84 51 215 186
Mixed doubles
Australian Open A A A A A A A A A A NH A A A SF W QF A A A 1 / 3 French Open A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 Wimbledon 1R 1R A 2R 3R 2R 3R A QF QF W 2R A QF 3R 3R QF 2R 2R 1 / 16 US Open A A A A A A A A A A A A 1R A SF 1R A A A 0 / 3
Federation Cup
1981 Federation Cup 9–15 Nov
1981Tokyo Clay 1R 3–0 Singles Ann Gabriel 5–7, 6–3, 6–3 ( W) Doubles (with Sue Barker) de Witte/de Wouters 6–3, 6–3 ( W) F 0–3 Doubles (with Virginia Wade) Rosie Casals/Kathy Jordan 4–6, 5–7 (L) 1982 Federation Cup 19–25 Nov
1982Santa Clara Hard 1R 2–1 Singles Sabina Simmonds 6–4, 6–7, 1–6 (L) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Patrizia Murgo/Sabina Simmonds 6–4, 6–3 ( W) 2R 3–0 Singles Rafeket Binyamini 6–4, 6–2 ( W) QF 1–2 Singles Helena Suková 3–6, 2–6 (L) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Eva Budarova/Suková 6–2, 4–6, 6–3 ( W) 1983 Federation Cup 17–24 Jul
1983Zürich Clay 1R 3–0 Singles Simone Wolter 6–2, 6–0 ( W) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Ginette Huberty/Simone Wolter 6–0, 6–0 ( W) 2R 3–0 Singles Patricia Medrado 6–4, 6–4 ( W) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Patricia Medrado/Monteiro 6–3, 6–2 ( W) QF 1–2 Singles Bettina Bunge 3–6, 4–6 (L) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Bettina Bunge/Eva Pfaff 3–6, 6–4, 10–8 ( W) 1984 Federation Cup 15–22 Jul
1984São Paulo Clay 1R 0–3 Singles Manuela Maleeva 4–6, 6–4, 4–6 (L) 1984 Federation Cup Consolation Rounds 15–22 Jul
1984São Paulo Clay 1R BYE 2R 2–1 Doubles (with Amanda Brown) Andrea Ritecz/Eva Rozsavolgyi 6–2, 7–5 ( W) QF 2–1 Doubles (with Amanda Brown) Hetherington/Pelletier 7–6, 6–2 ( W) SF 1–2 Singles Patricia Medrado 6–3, 6–1 ( W) 1985 Federation Cup 6–14 Oct
1985Nagoya Hard 1R 3–0 Singles Petra Keppeler 6–4, 6–0 ( W) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Andrea Betzner/Petra Keppeler 6–4, 3–6, 6–1 ( W) 2R 2–1 Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Etsuko Inoue/Masako Yanagi 6–7(2–7), 6–3, 6–2 ( W) QF 1–2 Singles Katerina Maleeva 2–6, 6–4, 6–8 (L) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Katerina Maleeva/Manuela Maleeva 5–4, ret. ( W) 1986 Federation Cup 20–27 Jul
1986Prague Clay 1R 0–3 Singles Tine Scheuer-Larsen 3–6, 1–6 (L) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Anne Moller/Scheuer-Larsen 2–6, 6–7(1–7) (L) 1987 Federation Cup 26 Jul–
2 Aug 1987Vancouver N/A 1R 3–0 Singles Macarena Miranda 6–2, 6–1 ( W) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Espinoza/Macarena Miranda 6–1, 6–0 ( W) 2R 2–1 Singles Raffaella Reggi 5–7, 4–6 (L) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Sandra Cecchini/Raffaella Reggi 6–7, 7–5, 6–4 ( W) QF 0–3 Singles Chris Evert 3–6, 1–6 (L) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Elise Burgin/Zina Garrison 5–7, 5–7 (L) 1989 Federation Cup 26 Jul–
2 Aug 1989Tokyo Hard 1R 3–0 Singles Yayuk Basuki 6–2, 7–6(7–5) ( W) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Anggarkusuma/Yayuk Basuki 7–5, 6–3 ( W) 2R 1–2 Singles Barbara Paulus 6–2, 4–6, 3–6 (L) Doubles (with Anne Hobbs) Barbara Paulus/Petra Schwarz 3–6, 7–6(7–3), 6–3 ( W) 1990 Federation Cup 21–29 Jul
1990Atlanta Hard 1R 3–0 Doubles (with Clare Wood) Sánchez/Joelle Schad 6–2, 6–0 ( W) 2R 2–1 Doubles (with Clare Wood) Laura Golarsa/Raffaella Reggi 6–4, 6–1 ( W) QF 1–2 Singles Barbara Paulus 6–7(3–7), 7–5, 4–6 (L) Doubles (with Clare Wood) Barbara Paulus/Reinstadler 5–2, ret. ( W) 1991 Federation Cup 24 Jul 1991 Nottingham N/A 1R BYE 2R 0–2 Singles Sandra Cecchini 5–7, 4–6 (L) 1992 Federation Cup World Group1 13–17 Jul
1992Frankfurt Clay 1R 0–3 Singles Lori McNeil 5–7, 3–6 (L) Doubles (with Clare Wood) Debbie Graham/Pam Shriver 4–6, 6–7(6–8) (L) PO
1R 3–0 Singles Paula Cabezas 6–7(5–7), 6–0, 6–1 ( W) PO
(Final) 1–2 Singles Petra Thorén 3–6, 5–7 (L) > 1993 Federation Cup World Group2 20–22 Jul
1993Frankfurt Clay 1R 0–3 Singles Conchita Martínez 2–6, 1–6 (L) Doubles (with Clare Wood) Martínez/Sánchez Vicario 1–6, 6–4, 1–6 (L) PO
(Relegation) 1–2 Singles Magdalena Feistel 6–2, 5–7, ret. (L) 1994 Federation Cup Europe/Africa Zone (Group I) 18–23 Apr
1994Bad Waltersdorf Clay RR 3–0 Singles Rosabel Moyen 7–5, 6–0 ( W) Doubles (with Clare Wood) Anne Kremer/Rosabel Moyen 6–4, 6–0 ( W) 2–1 Singles Elena Makarova 4–6, 7–5, 7–5 ( W) PO
R1 3–0 Singles Shiri Burstein 6–3, 6–2 ( W) Doubles (with Clare Wood) Shiri Burstein/Tzipi Obziler 6–1, 6–0 ( W) PO
(Promotion) 0–2 Singles Dominique Monami 5–7, 3–6 (L) 1995 Federation Cup Europe/Africa Zone (Group I) 17–19 Apr
1995Murcia Clay RR 1–2 Doubles (with Clare Wood) Jezernik/Križan 2–6, 6–1, 6–2 ( W) 0–3 Doubles (with Clare Wood) Novotná/Suková 7–6(12–10), 1–6, 2–6 (L) 2–1 Doubles (with Clare Wood) Grzybowska/Aleksandra Olsza 6–2, 7–5 ( W)
External links
Categories: 1960 Births, Living People, Australian Open Champions, English Female Tennis Players, British Female Tennis Players, English Tennis Coaches, Hopman Cup Competitors, People Educated At Clifton High School, Bristol, Tennis Players From Bristol, English Tennis Commentators, Wimbledon Champions, Grand Slam Champions In Mixed Doubles, Female Sports Coaches, 20th-century English Sportswomen
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