Ilana Sheryl Kloss (born 22 March 1956) is a 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 cov ...

player, tennis coach, and commissioner of

World TeamTennis World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take ...

from 2001-21. She was the World's No. 1 ranked doubles player in 1976, and World No. 19 in singles in 1979. She won the Wimbledon juniors singles title in 1972, the US Open juniors singles title in 1974, and the US Open Doubles and

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

Mixed Doubles titles in 1976. She won three gold medals at the

1973 Maccabiah Games The 9th Maccabiah Games, which were held from July 9 to 19, 1973, were opened in Ramat Gan Stadium, Israel. Spain and Costa Rica made their debuts in the Games. A total of 1,800 athletes competed on behalf of 27 countries in 20 branches of sport, i ...

in Israel.

Personal life

Kloss was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

, South Africa. She is Jewish. Kloss is married to

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former World number 1 ranked female tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's double ...

, the US tennis player. The two were married in a secret ceremony in 2018 and have been together for over 40 years. The two of them became minority owners of the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...

baseball team in September 2018 and

Angel City FC Angel City Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in Los Angeles, California, and was announced on July 21, 2020. The team has many high-profile owners, including Becky G, Natal ...

, a

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-based team set to start play in the

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in 2022, in October 2020.

Tennis career

Before turning professional, she won the juniors singles title at Wimbledon in 1972. She won the SA doubles title with Linky Boshoff in 1973, 1975, and 1977. She also played in the

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi- ...

in Israel, winning gold medals in the singles, women's doubles (with Helen Weiner defeating silver medalists

Vicki Berner Vicki Berner (26 July 1945 – 21 June 2017) was a Canadian professional tennis player. During her career, Berner won the doubles event at the Canadian Open five times. Between 1964 and 1973, Berner competed in Grand Slam events. Her highest fin ...

and Pam Gullish of Canada in the finals), and the mixed doubles in the

. She also won a silver medal in mixed doubles in the

1977 Maccabiah Games At the 10th Maccabiah Games in Israel, more than 2,800 athletes from 34 countries participated in 26 different sports, including chess and bridge. The opening ceremonies were held on July 12, 1977, in Ramat Gan Stadium before a crowd of 50,000 p ...

, losing to

Peter Rennert Peter Rennert (born December 26, 1958) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He achieved career-high rankings of World No. 40 in singles (in 1980), and World No. 8 in doubles (in 1983). At the 1977 Maccabiah Games in Isr ...

and Stacy Margolin. In 1974, she won US Open juniors singles title. She was the youngest No. 1 player in South African history. In 1973, she won the title 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 w ...

with Pat Walkden, defeating

Evonne Goolagong Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley (née Goolagong; born 31 July 1951) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. At the age of 19, she won the French Open sing ...

and Janet Young in the final. Kloss was ranked No. 1 in the world in doubles and No. 19 in singles in 1976. That year, she won doubles titles at the US Open, the

Italian Open Italian Open may refer to: *Italian Open (tennis), a Masters 1000 level tennis tournament played in Rome each year. *Italian Open (golf) The DS Automobiles Italian Open ( it, Open d'Italia) is the men's national open golf championship of Italy. I ...

, the US Clay Courts, the

German Open German Open is a name given to many sports events established in Germany, and include: *German Open (badminton), an annual badminton tournament held since 1955. * German Open (golf), was a golf tournament on the European Tour *German Masters, a snoo ...

, the British Hard Courts Championship, and

Hilton Head Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and southwest of C ...

, as well as the mixed doubles title at the

. Linky Boshoff was her most frequent doubles partner. In 1977 she won the Canadian and German championships and the British clay court championship. In 1999, Kloss won the US Open doubles and mixed doubles championship on the 35-and-over tour.

Federation Cup

From 1973 until 1977, Kloss was a member of the South African team that competed in the Federation Cup. She compiled a 12–5 win–loss record.

Halls of Fame

Kloss, who is Jewish, was inducted into the US National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. She was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

World Team Tennis

Kloss joined the

San Francisco Golden Gaters The San Francisco Golden Gaters were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT). The Golden Gaters won two Western Division Championships and lost in the WTT Finals both times. The team was founded in 1973 and made the playoffs in each of the ...

WTT team in 1974, and reached the WTT Finals with the team in 1975. She left the Golden Gaters prior to the 1976 season to team in order to fully participate in clay-court

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

s in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

which conflicted with the WTT schedule. Kloss returned to the Golden Gaters for the 1978 season. In 1983, she coached the Chicago Fyre to a WTT Championship and was named Coach of the Year. In 1985, Kloss was a player and coach for the Miami Beach Breakers, and became vice-president of WTT in 1987 and executive director in 1991. Since 2001, she has been the chief executive officer and commissioner of World Team Tennis.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Women's doubles: 1 (1 title)

Mixed doubles: 1 (1 title)

References

External links

* * *
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kloss, Ilana 1956 births Living people Jewish tennis players LGBT Jews LGBT sportspeople from South Africa Sportspeople from Johannesburg South African female tennis players South African Jews US Open (tennis) junior champions Wimbledon junior champions Lesbian sportswomen LGBT tennis players Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles Competitors at the 1973 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 1977 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games medalists in tennis Maccabiah Games gold medalists for South Africa Maccabiah Games silver medalists for South Africa White South African people Los Angeles Dodgers executives Los Angeles Dodgers owners Major League Baseball executives US Open (tennis) champions French Open champions Jewish South African sportspeople Angel City FC owners