Ally Baker
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Allison Baker (born April 10, 1986), also known as Ally Baker, is a former professional
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player from the United States.


Biography

Baker was born in
Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...
, one of two daughters of Bill and Leigh. A left-handed player, she was coached by John Evert at the
Evert Tennis Academy Evert Tennis Academy is a tennis training center for developing collegiate and professional tennis players in Boca Raton, Florida. The academy was founded by professional tennis player Chris Evert and her brother John Evert. It opened in 1996. Th ...
in Florida from the age of 14. When she was 15 she won an ITF singles title in Greenville and also competed successfully on the international junior circuit. She and German Anna-Lena Groenefeld narrowly lost the girls' doubles final at the
2002 Wimbledon Championships The 2002 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 116th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
, 6–8 in the third set. In girls' singles events she made the quarter-finals of the 2002 US Open, the semi-finals of the 2002 Orange Bowl, won the title at Roehampton in 2003 and was a quarter-finalist at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships. While still a junior she received an
Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...
sponsorship and featured beside
Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 13 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in ...
in a commercial for French sports company Babolat. Midway through 2002, at the age of 16, Baker turned professional and by the end of the year had signed up with a sports management company. She was granted a wildcard to compete in the main draw of the 2002 US Open and took world number 38
Elena Likhovtseva Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva ( ; born 8 September 1975) is a Kazakhstani-born Russian former tennis player. She turned professional in January 1992, at the age of 16. Together with Mahesh Bhupathi she won the Wimbledon Mixed doubles in 20 ...
to a match deciding tie-break, in a first round loss. In addition to her singles appearance she also featured in the women's doubles draw, with
Bethanie Mattek Bethanie Mattek-Sands ( Bethanie Lynn Mattek; born March 23, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. She has won nine Grand Slam titles (five in women's doubles and four in mixed doubles), and an Olympic gold medal, and is a former w ...
. She made her WTA Tour main draw debut as a wildcard at the 2003 Miami Open and was beaten in the opening round 6–0, 6–0, by qualifier
Marion Bartoli Marion Bartoli (; born 2 October 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. Bartoli won the 2013 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, 2013 Wimbledon Championships singles title, after previously being runner-up in 2007 Wimbledo ...
. At the 2003 US Open she had to go through qualifying and fell in the second round, but did feature in the main draw of the doubles, with
Angela Haynes Angela Haynes (born September 27, 1984) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Her top singles ranking by the WTA is world No. 95 which she attained in August 2005. Her brother Dontia Haynes, a former San Diego State Un ...
. After the US Open she won the doubles event at the $50,000 Columbus ITF tournament, with Teryn Ashley, which was the biggest title of her professional career. She made her second and last WTA Tour appearance in the doubles at the 2003 Challenge Bell held in Quebec, but didn't get to complete the first set in the opening round, with her partner Sarah Taylor spraining her ankle and having to retire hurt. An injury to her left foot resulted in a premature retirement from tennis in 2004, aged only 18. She later unsuccessfully sued Adidas for negligence over the injury, which she claimed was caused by the company's shoes that she had been supplied through their sponsorship arrangement since her junior career. The shoes were sent without any examination of the size required and it was later revealed that the shoes she had been competing in were three sizes too wide. To rectify this she was flown by Adidas to Oregon to have a custom-fitted shoe designed, but she ended up requiring surgery for the torn ligament in 2004, after which she lost the ability to run. The suit, which was filed locally, was dismissed for improper venue as the contract she had signed with Adidas stated that any contractual issues would need to be adjudicated in Amsterdam, where the company had their head office. Baker, a graduate of the
University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...
, now works at PWC in Nashville.


ITF finals


Singles (1–1)


Doubles (2–2)


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Ally 1986 births Living people American female tennis players Tennis players from Raleigh, North Carolina University of North Carolina alumni