Annette Van Zyl (born 25 September 1943 in Pretoria), also known by her married name as Annette du Plooy, is a South African former

tennis 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 ...

player. She was ranked in the top ten female players during the mid 1960s, and in 1966 she won the French Open Mixed Doubles title with

Frew McMillan Frew Donald McMillan (born 20 May 1942) is a former professional male tennis player from South Africa who won five grand slam doubles titles including three Wimbledons with Bob Hewitt. All together, he won 63 doubles titles, surpassed only by ...

, defeating

Ann Haydon-Jones Ann Shirley Jones, (née Adrianne Haydon on 17 October 1938, also known as Ann Haydon-Jones) is a British former table tennis and lawn tennis champion. She won eight Grand Slam tennis championships in her career: three in singles, three in wome ...

and

Clark Graebner Clark Graebner (born November 4, 1943) is a retired American professional tennis player. Early life Graebner was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the only child of Paul Graebner, a doctor, and his wife, the former Janice Clark. Paul had been a moderat ...

in three sets.

Tennis career

In January 1965 she won the singles title at the Natal Championships in Durban. In April 1965 Van Zyl reached the final of the British Hard Court Championships at Bournemouth but was beaten in straight sets by

. In June of the same year she won the singles title at the grass court tournament in Cheltenham and later that month she was victorious at the London Grass Court Championship played at the Queen's Club, defeating

Christine Truman Christine Clara Truman Janes (born 16 January 1941) is a former tennis player from the United Kingdom who was active from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. She won a singles Grand Slam title at the French Championships in 1959 and was a finalist a ...

in the final. In July she won the Welsh title also against Truman in the final. She reached the semifinal of the French Open singles in 1967, beating Billie Jean King in the quarterfinal before losing to

Lesley Turner Bowrey Lesley Rosemary Turner Bowrey, AM (née Turner; born 16 August 1942) is a retired professional tennis player from Australia. Her career spanned two decades from the late 1950s until the late 1970s. Turner Bowrey won the singles title at the Fr ...

. In July 1968 she won the singles title at the Swiss Open after defeating Julie Heldman in the final with the loss of just one game. In August she beat

Judy Tegart Judy Tegart Dalton (née Tegart; born 12 December 1937) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She won nine major doubles titles, and completed the career Grand Slam in women's doubles. Five of her doubles titles were with Margar ...

in straight sets in the final of the singles event at the German Championships in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and also won the doubles and mixed doubles events. Van Zyl reached the final of the South African Championships singles event on three occasions, winning the title in 1963 and 1975 and ending as runner–up in 1965. Between 1964 and 1976 Van Zyl played in 11 ties for the South African Federation Cup team and compiled a 12–7 win-los record. According to A. Wallis Myers of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' and the '' Daily Mail'', Van Zyl was ranked in the world top ten in 1965, 1966, and 1968, reaching a career high of World No. 6 in those rankings in 1965 and 1966.

Tournament finals

Singles 8 (7 titles – 2 runner-ups)

Doubles 7 (4 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Mixed doubles 1

Personal life

On 20 April 1968 Van Zyl married Jan du Plooy in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

. She is currently head coach at Brooklyn Union Tennis Club.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Zyl, Annette South African female tennis players Living people 1943 births Sportspeople from Pretoria Afrikaner people South African people of Dutch descent Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles French Championships (tennis) champions