Cara Cavell Black (born 17 February 1979) is a Zimbabwean former professional

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. Black was primarily a doubles specialist, winning 60

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tou ...

and 11 ITF doubles titles. A former doubles world No. 1, she won ten major titles. By winning the 2010 Australian Open mixed doubles title, Black became the third woman in the

Open Era The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...

to complete the career Grand Slam in mixed doubles (after Martina Navratilova and

Daniela Hantuchová Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Masters, defeating M ...

). Having also won one singles title on the WTA Tour, Black peaked at world No. 31 in the singles rankings in March 1999.

Personal life

Black was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) to

Donald Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

and Velia Black. Her father and older brothers, Wayne and Byron Black, were all professional tennis players themselves. The siblings all compete mostly in doubles – Wayne was the 2001 US Open and

2005 Australian Open The 2005 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 until 30 January 2005. Roger Federer was unsuccessful in defending his 2004 title, being defeated in the semi-finals by eventual champion Marat Safin ...

champion and Byron was the 1994 French Open winner. Black partnered with her brother Wayne to win the 2002 French Open and

2004 Wimbledon Championships The 2004 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on Grass court, grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 118th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and ...

mixed-doubles events. Black has also engaged in long-term partnerships with Irina Selyutina,

Elena Likhovtseva Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva (russian: Елена Александровна Лиховцева ; born 8 September 1975) is a Kazakhstani-born Russian former tennis player. She turned professional in January 1992, at the age of 16. Together ...

Rennae Stubbs Rennae Stubbs (born 26 March 1971) is an Australian tennis coach, television commentator, and former professional player. She is the host of The Power Hour on Amazon Prime Video Sports Talk. She worked at the Seven Network between 2011 and 201 ...

Liezel Huber Liezel Huber (née Horn; born 21 August 1976) is a South African-American retired tennis player who represented the United States internationally since August 2007. Huber has won four Grand Slam titles in women's doubles with partner Cara Blac ...

, and most recently

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 i ...

. In August 2005, Black announced that she would marry her longtime boyfriend, Australian mental and fitness trainer Brett Stephens. The couple's son was born in 2012 following her break from tennis after Wimbledon 2011.

Career

1996–2010

Cara has won five

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

women's doubles titles in her career: Wimbledon 2004, 2005, and 2007; Australian Open 2007; and US Open 2008. She reached the 2000 US Open doubles final with

. She has also won five Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, two of them partnering with her brother Wayne: the 2002 French Open and the

(they reached the final of the

2004 French Open The 2004 French Open was the 108th edition of the tournament. Gastón Gaudio became the first men's Open Era Grand Slam title winner to save two match points in the final; the last time that had happened was 70 years earlier. Gaudio also became t ...

and the semifinals of the

2003 French Open The 2003 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2003 and the 107th edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 26 through June 8, 2003. Both Albert Costa and Serena Williams were unsu ...

and 2003 US Open). She won three further titles in partnership with

Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...

: the 2008 US Open, the 2010 Australian Open and the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. From 1996 through to 2000, Black's debut years, she won 8 ITF doubles titles, 1 WTA doubles title in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, and 4 ITF singles titles. Her only WTA singles title came at Waikoloa in 2002. She also won a big ITF doubles tournament in Santa Clara in 1999. In November 2005, Black was runner-up in the WTA Championships doubles title. Australian

Samantha Stosur Samantha Jane Stosur ( ; born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks. Also a former top ten s ...

and American

Lisa Raymond Lisa Raymond (born August 10, 1973) is an American retired professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. Raymond has eleven Grand Slam titles to her name: six in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. On J ...

defeated Australian

and Black 6–7 (5–7), 7–5, 6–4. In 2007, Black came back to partner

. They won the

2007 Australian Open The 2007 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 15 January until 28 January 2007. The total prize pool was set at exactly A$20 million, with the winners of both the men's and women's singles competi ...

and Wimbledon. The team ended the year as the number one team, winning the year-end championships over

Katarina Srebotnik Katarina Srebotnik (born 12 March 1981) is a Slovenian retired professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 7 August 2006. On 4 July 2011, she reached No. 1 of the WTA doubles rankings, holding this ...

and

Ai Sugiyama is a Japanese former tennis player. She reached the world No. 1 ranking in women's doubles on the WTA Tour and had a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8, achieved on February 9, 2004. In her career, she won six singles and 38 doubles t ...

5–7, 6–3, 0–8 Black represented Zimbabwe at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing."Zimbabwean Tennis Star Ready for Her Third Olympic Appearance"
Xinhua, 30 April 2008 She lost to 2nd seeded

Jelena Janković Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former tennis player. A former world No. 1, Janković reached the top ranking before her career-best major performance, a runner-up finish at the ...

from Serbia in the first round on 11 August 2008. She teamed up with

from India for the mixed doubles at the US Open, triumphing over

and

Jamie Murray Jamie Robert Murray, (born 13 February 1986) is a Scottish professional tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup win ...

in the finals. In 2009, she won five doubles titles leading to the year-end championships in

Doha, Qatar Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...

. Black started 2010 strongly by winning two tournaments leading up to the Australian Open, coming to the slam with an unbeaten record. Black made it to the finals in both the women's doubles and mixed doubles. She and Huber lost the women's doubles final to Venus and

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...

in straight sets, 4–6, 3–6. However, she and

won the mixed doubles in straight sets. The victory marked Black's first mixed doubles victory at the Australian Open. The victory also completed a 'Career Grand Slam' in mixed doubles. Black and Huber broke up as exclusive doubles partners in April 2010. Since then, Black has partnered with Shahar Pe'er, Elena Vesnina, Yan Zi,

Marina Erakovic Marina Erakovic ( ; hr, Marina Eraković ; born 6 March 1988) is a retired tennis player from New Zealand. She achieved career-high rankings of 39 in singles and 25 in doubles, and won one singles title, at Memphis in February 2013, and eigh ...

, and

Anastasia Rodionova Anastasia (from el, Ἀναστασία, translit=Anastasía) is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek word (), meaning "resurrection". It is a popular name in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, where it was the most ...

. Even though she made the final of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

and won a small tournament in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, she mostly achieved modest results after the break-up. Partnering with Vesnina and Hantuchová respectively, she lost in the third round of the French Open and Wimbledon. Partnering with Rodionova, she lost in the semifinals of the US Open to eventual champions

Vania King Vania King (born February 3, 1989) is an American former tennis player. A former top-ten doubles player, King won both the Wimbledon and US Open women's doubles titles in 2010 with partner Yaroslava Shvedova, with whom she also reached the f ...

and

Yaroslava Shvedova Yaroslava Vyacheslavovna Shvedova (; born 12 September 1987) is a Kazakhstani former professional tennis player. Before 2008, she represented her country of birth, Russia. She won one singles title and 13 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, plus o ...

. Black then missed all tournaments following the US Open and did not qualify for the WTA Championships for the first time since 1999. Black ended 2010 ranked 13th in doubles, the first time she finished a year outside the top 10 since 2000. However, Black continued her successful partnership with Paes in 2010 as the pair won the mixed-doubles title at Wimbledon and reached the quarterfinals at the US Open.

2011

Entering the 2011 season, Black continued her partnership with Australian

where they reached the semifinal of the Brisbane International and lost in the first round of Sydney International. During the Australian Open, Black and Rodionova were seeded fifth and reached the quarterfinals where they lost to Huber and

Nadia Petrova Nadezhda Viktorovna "Nadia" Petrova (russian: Надежда Викторовна Петрова ; born 8 June 1982) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A former top-five player in both singles and doubles, she reached a career-high ...

. In mixed doubles, Black partnered with Leander Paes and they were seeded fourth. They were eliminated in the second round by

Chan Yung-jan Latisha Chan (born 17 August 1989), formerly known by her Chinese name Chan Yung-jan (; ), is a Taiwanese tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. She has won 33 career titles in doubles, including a Grand Slam title at the 2017 ...

and Paul Hanley in a tight straight sets loss, 6–7, 6–7. Despite Black being eliminated from both doubles and mixed doubles, Black was a sideline commentator for Seven, including the grand final for ladies doubles, and was present for former doubles partner Rennae Stubbs's speech. Then, Black did not play until June, where she returned at the ITF Nottingham. She paired-up with Russian

Arina Rodionova Arina Ivanovna Rodionova (russian: Арина Ивановна Родионова; born 15 December 1989) is a Russian-born Australian tennis player. Rodionova has won nine singles and 42 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In 2007, ...

. She was eliminated in the first round. Her next tournament was the Nottingham Challenge where she made it to the quarterfinals alongside British Sarah Borwell. Then, at the

Eastbourne International The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour 2 ...

, she and Israeli Shahar Pe'er were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Going into the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...

, she lost in her third round match to eventual champions

Květa Peschke Květoslava Peschke (née Hrdličková; born 9 July 1975) is a Czech retired professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 in November 2005, winning one WTA singles title ...

and

. In mixed doubles, she lost in the quarterfinals with Indian

against Daniel Nestor and Yung-Jan Chan.

2012

Black did not compete on the

during 2012, and began playing again in October on two $25k events in Australia with

. The pair won the title in

Traralgon Traralgon ( ) is a town located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia and the most populous city of the City of Latrobe. The urban population of Traralgon at the was 26,907. It is the largest and fastes ...

, defeating

Ashleigh Barty Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom. Notable people B *Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian voice actress * Ashle ...

and Sally Peers in the final. However, Black and Rodionova lost to the same team in the finals of Bendigo the following week. She finished the year ranked outside the world's top 600.

2013: Return to the top 20

During the 2013 season, Black had a significant comeback, as she returned to the

at the Auckland Open, partnering

in doubles. The pair managed to defeat the top three seeds to win the doubles title, Black's first WTA doubles title with Rodionova, and her first doubles title since 2010. Black and Rodionova lost in the 3rd round of the Australian Open, and won only one match between Indian Wells and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, after which the two parted ways. During the clay court season, Black began playing alongside

, and they made an immediate impact, reaching the finals of the Premier Mandatory tournament in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, as well as in Strasbourg. At the French Open, the pair reached the quarterfinals before losing to second seeds

Andrea Hlaváčková Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that re ...

and Lucie Hradecká. Despite reaching the final of the Birmingham Classic, Black and Erakovic went out in the second round of Wimbledon. After losing their opening match in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, the pair reached the third round of the US Open, losing to

Ekaterina Makarova Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles. She ...

and Elena Vesnina of Russia. Black began working with

in September, with whom she ended up winning back to back Premier-5 tournaments in the far east. In

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

, Black and Mirza defeated the top seeded team of

Hsieh Su-wei Hsieh Su-wei ( ;''Xiè 謝淑薇Shūwēi'' in Chinese mainland. Taiwanese Mandarin: ; in Standard Mandarin of Chinese mainland. born 4 January 1986) is an inactive Taiwanese professional tennis player. She has won three singles titles and 30 ...

and

Peng Shuai Peng Shuai (; born 8 January 1986) is a Chinese retired professional tennis player. In February 2014, she was ranked world No. 1 doubles player by the WTA, becoming the first Chinese tennis player to achieve that ranking (in either single ...

in the semifinals before taking out

Chan Hao-ching Chan Hao-ching (; ; born September 19, 1993), also known as Angel Chan, is a Taiwanese professional tennis player. She is primarily a doubles specialist, having won 18 WTA, 2 WTA Challenger and 6 ITF titles in that discipline. Chan reached the ...

and

. It was Black's first Premier 5 title since 2009, and her second of the season. This was immediately followed by a win at the China Open, where en route to the final, they once again took out the top seeds of world number 1 team

Sara Errani Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 in doubles. With 9 singles titles and 27 doubles titles (including 5 Grand Slam doubles championship ...

and

Roberta Vinci Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian professional padel and former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she won five major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position. She also reached a career-high ranking of world No. 7 i ...

in the semifinals, before defeating Vera Dushevina and

Arantxa Parra Santonja Arantxa Parra Santonja (; born 9 November 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She turned pro in 2000 and retired in 2019. In her career, Parra Santonja won eleven doubles titles on the WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide ...

in the final. It was the first time since 2010 that Black had won back-to-back doubles titles, and it took her back up into the world's top 20, finishing the year ranked number 13 in the world.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 9 (5 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Mixed doubles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runner-ups)

By winning the 2010 Australian Open title, Black completed the mixed doubles Career Grand Slam. She became the sixth female player in history to achieve this.

Career statistics

Grand Slam tournament performance timelines

Doubles

Mixed doubles

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Cara 1979 births Living people Zimbabwean female tennis players Olympic tennis players of Zimbabwe Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics French Open champions Wimbledon champions Sportspeople from Harare White Zimbabwean sportspeople Hopman Cup competitors Wimbledon junior champions US Open (tennis) junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles Zimbabwean people of English descent Zimbabwean people of Scottish descent African Games medalists in tennis African Games bronze medalists for Zimbabwe Competitors at the 1995 All-Africa Games WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players ITF World Champions