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 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, defeating Ann Haydon-Jones and Clark Graebner 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 The British Hard Court Championships is a defunct Grand Prix tennis and WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1968 to 1983 and 1995 to 1999. The inaugural edition of the tournament was held in 1924 in Torquay, moving to the West Hant ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

but was beaten in straight sets by Ann Haydon-Jones. 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 The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship reas ...

, defeating Christine Truman 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 Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States ...

in the quarterfinal before losing to Lesley Turner Bowrey. In July 1968 she won the singles title at the Swiss Open after defeating

Julie Heldman Julie Heldman (born December 8, 1945) is an American tennis player who won 22 singles titles. In 1969 and 1974, she was ranked as the world No. 5. In 1968 and 1969, she was ranked No. 2 in the U.S. She was Canadian National 18 and Under Singles ...

in the final with the loss of just one game. In August she beat Judy Tegart in straight sets in the final of the singles event at the German Championships in Hamburg 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 Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

team and compiled a 12–7 win-los record. According to

A. Wallis Myers Arthur Wallis Myers (24 July 1878 – 17 June 1939) was an English tennis correspondent, editor, author and player. He was one of the leading tennis journalists of the first half of the 20th century. Family life Myers was son of the Rev. John ...

of '' The Daily Telegraph'' and the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'', 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. 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