Erica Kathleen "Kathy" Horvath (born August 25, 1965) is an American 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 c ...

player. She is best known for upsetting world No. 1 Martina Navratilova in the fourth round of the 1983 French Open, delivering her only defeat for the season.

Career

She was the youngest player to play in the US Open in 1979 at 14 years and five days — this record still stands. Horvath was the youngest player to win the U.S. National 16 and under in 1979. She also is the only player to ever win all four age groups in the U.S. Girls Clay Courts in all consecutive years. Horvath played on the

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 ...

from 1981 to 1989, winning six singles titles and reaching a career-high ranking of world No. 10 in 1984. She reached the quarterfinals at the French Open in 1983 and 1984. She retired with a 176–154 singles record. Horvath was the only player to defeat Martina Navratilova in the 1983 season (at the

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 v ...

), winning in the fourth round in three sets. Navratilova's coaches (Renee Richards and Nancy Lieberman) argued in the stands over strategy, something Navratilova noticed during the match. Horvath had career victories over Navratilova,

Andrea Jaeger Andrea Jaeger ( ; born June 4, 1965) is an American former professional tennis player. A world No. 2, Jaeger's brief but highly successful tennis career ended prematurely due to major shoulder injuries. Jaeger started her professional tennis career ...

Manuela Maleeva Manuela Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Мануела Георгиева Малеева; born 14 February 1967) is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. She played on the WTA Tour between 1982 and 1994. Through her marriage, Maleeva began re ...

Gabriela Sabatini Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine-Italian former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 ...

, Dianne Fromholtz,

Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Claudia Kohde-Kilsch (''née'' Kohde; born 11 December 1963) is a former German tennis player and member of the Die Linke. During her tennis career, she won two women's doubles Grand Slam titles. She also won eight singles titles and a total o ...

, Mary Joe Fernández,

Betty Stöve Betty Flippina Stöve (born 24 June 1945) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. She is best remembered for reaching the ladies' singles final, the ladies' doubles final and the mixed doubles final during the same year at Wimbledon in 19 ...

, and Sylvia Hanika. She was a member of the 1984 United States Fed Cup team. Horvath played in the

1984 Olympics The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an intern ...

when tennis was reintroduced as a demonstration sport and was the first seed. She was coached by

Harry Hopman Henry Christian Hopman CBE (12 August 1906 – 27 December 1985) was an Australian tennis player and coach. Early life Harry Hopman was born on 12 August 1906 in Glebe, Sydney as the third child of John Henry Hopman, a schoolteacher, and Jenni ...

and

Nick Bollettieri Nicholas James Bollettieri (July 31, 1931 – December 4, 2022) was an American tennis coach. He pioneered the concept of a tennis boarding school, and helped develop many leading tennis players during the past decades, including Andre Agassi, J ...

. After her tennis career, she got her BS and MBA at the Wharton School of Business and then worked on Wall Street until 2003.

WTA career finals

Singles 9: (6–3)

Doubles 9: (3–6)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Horvath, Kathy 1965 births Living people American female tennis players French Open junior champions Tennis players from Chicago Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles People from Millburn, New Jersey 21st-century American women