Mark Raymond Woodforde, OAM (born 23 September 1965) 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 from Australia. He is best known as one half of " The Woodies", a doubles partnership with

Todd Woodbridge Todd Andrew Woodbridge, OAM (born 2 April 1971) is an Australian former professional tennis player and current sports broadcaster with the Nine Network. Woodbridge is best known for his successful Doubles partnerships with Mark Woodforde (n ...

. Woodforde was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, and joined the men's professional tennis

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in 1984. Woodforde won four singles titles, including his hometown Adelaide tournament twice. His best singles result in a Grand Slam was reaching the semi-final of the Australian Open in 1996, his 38th Grand Slam singles tournament, which remains a record for the longest time taken to reach a maiden semi-final. Woodforde is best known for his doubles success, having won twelve Grand Slam doubles titles in his career – one

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 ...

, two

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s, three US Opens, and a record six Wimbledons. Eleven of these victories came as a member of the Woodies, and he won the 1989 US Open doubles with

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beh ...

. He also won five Grand Slam mixed doubles titles – one French Open, two Australian Opens, one US Open, and one Wimbledon; thus making an overall total of 17 Grand Slam doubles titles. He reached the world No. 1 doubles ranking in November 1992. He enjoyed the greatest success of his career when playing men's doubles with Woodbridge, combining his left-hand baseline play with Woodbridge's swift volleying reflexes at the net. They were the ATP Doubles Team of the Year four times, and all together the Woodies won 61 ATP doubles tournaments (Woodforde won 67 in his career). Woodforde's other career highlights included a gold medal at the

1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, and a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Woodforde was awarded the Medal of the Order of the Australia in the

1997 Australia Day Honours The 1997 Australia Day Honours are appointments Australian honours system, to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 1997 by the Governor General of Australia, Will ...

"for service to sport as gold medallist at the Atlanta Olympic Games, 1996". Woodforde played for the Australian Davis Cup Team in three

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organi ...

finals, including teaming with Woodbridge to clinch the 1999 win over France in Paris to give Australia its first Davis Cup victory in 13 years. Woodforde retired from professional tennis in 2000 after a Davis Cup final loss to Spain, and was appointed the coach of Australia's

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was chan ...

team in 2003. He has since provided commentary for tennis on

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and

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. In January 2010 on Australia Day, the Woodies were inducted to the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame for their achievements in tennis. As a part of the induction ceremony, their bronzed statues were placed with other great Australian tennis players at Melbourne Park. In 2014, alongside Woodbridge, the

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there ...

(ITF) presented him with its highest accolade, the

Philippe Chatrier award The Philippe Chatrier Award is an annual International Tennis Federation (ITF) award. It was introduced in 1996 to recognise individuals or organisations considered to have made outstanding contributions to tennis globally, both on and off the cou ...

, for his contributions to tennis.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 16 (12 titles, 4 runners-up)

By winning the 2000 French Open, Woodforde completed the career Grand Slam.

Mixed doubles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runners-up)

Career finals

Doubles (67–24)

ATP career finals

Singles (4 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Doubles performance timeline

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodforde, Mark 1965 births Living people Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Australian male tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions French Open champions Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic silver medalists for Australia Olympic tennis players of Australia Tennis players from Adelaide Sportspeople from Riverside County, California Australian tennis commentators Tennis people from California Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics US Open (tennis) champions Wimbledon champions Olympic medalists in tennis Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Novak Djokovic coaches International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players ITF World Champions Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees