Abigail Michal Spears (born July 12, 1981) is a former professional

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

from the United States. She was suspended for doping offences from 7 November 2019 until 7 September 2021.

Biography

2000–2011

Spears turned professional in 2000. She reached the third round at the 2005 Australian Open, and the first round at the

2005 French Open The 2005 French Open was the 109th edition of the tournament. On the men's side, Rafael Nadal, seeded fourth at his first French Open, was a strong favorite to win the singles title after winning the Monte Carlo and Rome Masters. Guillermo Coria ...

, 2005 Wimbledon tournament (where she also reached the third round in the doubles tournament with

Lisa McShea Lisa McShea (born 29 October 1974) is an Australian former tennis player. She played professionally from 1996 to 2006. As a junior player, McShea won the 1992 Wimbledon Championships doubles title. She was also more successful in doubles during ...

) and the 2005 US Open.. She reached the third round at the 2008 Wimbledon doubles tournament with

Raquel Kops-Jones Raquel Atawo (née Kops-Jones; born December 8, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player, who is currently the head woman's tennis coach for the Washington State Cougars. She is primarily a doubles specialist, winning 18 WTA doubl ...

, and the duo bettered that result by reaching the quarterfinals at the 2008 US Open. Spears also qualified in singles for the US Open twice. She achieved a singles ranking of world No. 66 on June 6, 2005. Her highest doubles ranking was world No. 11 on June 24, 2013. Spears has not won a WTA singles title, but as of the end of December 2018, she has won 21 WTA doubles titles. She participated in the US Open doubles draw eleven times between 1998 and 2010.

2012

Spears and compatriot Raquel Kops-Jones were one of the most successful doubles team of the 2012 season, winning four titles at Carlsbad,

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. The pair also reached two other finals and also the quarterfinals of

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

2017: Grand Slam breakthrough

2017 was expected to be Spears' farewell year on tour. At the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

, she partnered with

Juan Sebastián Cabal Juan Sebastián Cabal Valdés (; born 25 April 1986) is a Colombian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 184 in February 2011, but has achieved most of his success i ...

to win the mixed-doubles tournament. In the final, they defeated the second seeded team of

Sania Mirza Sania Mirza (; born 15 November 1986) is an Indian professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she has won six major titles – three in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles. From 2003 until her retirement from singles in ...

and

Ivan Dodig Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles. He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's doubles titles at the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, and the 2021 Au ...

6–2, 6–4. The American-Colombian duo recovered from a 1–4 deficit in the second set to reel off five straight games to clinch the title. It was a revenge match for Spears, having lost to Mirza the last time Spears made it to a Grand Slam final, losing 9–11 in the super tiebreak to Mirza and

Bruno Soares Bruno Fraga Soares (; born 27 February 1982) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. A doubles specialist, Soares won six major titles, the Australian Open and US Open in 2016 alongside Jamie Murray, and ...

at the 2014 US Open. Spears has continued to play on tour and has not retired.

Significant finals

Grand Slam finals

Mixed Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 finals

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Doubles: 31 (21 titles, 10 runner-ups)

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spears, Abigail American female tennis players Tennis players from San Diego 1981 births Living people Australian Open (tennis) champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Doping cases in tennis 21st-century American women