Erica Kathleen "Kathy" Horvath (born August 25, 1965) is an American 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. She is best known for upsetting world No. 1

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova (, ; ; born October18, 1956) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, singles for 332 weeks (List of WTA number ...

in the fourth round of the

1983 French Open The 1983 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 23 May until 5 June. It was the 82nd staging of the French Open, and the first Grand Slam ...

, delivering her only defeat for the season.

Career

Horvath was the youngest player to play in the US Open in 1979 at 14 years and five days — this record still stands. She 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. She played on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...

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

in the 1983 season (at the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

), 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. She started her professional tennis career at the age of 14 and went on to win pro tennis tournaments while still competing in other junior tennis events. By th ...

Manuela Maleeva Manuela Georgieva Maleeva (; 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 representing Switzerland officially from January 1990 ...

Gabriela Sabatini Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine 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 titles a ...

Dianne Fromholtz Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat (née Fromholtz; born 10 August 1956) is an Australian former professional tennis player who reached a highest singles ranking of world No. 4 in 1979. Career Fromholtz began playing tennis at the age of seven. She ...

Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Claudia Kohde-Kilsch ( 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 of 25 dou ...

Mary Joe Fernández Mary Joe Fernández Godsick (born María José Fernández; August 19, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player, who reached a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in both singles and doubles. In singles, Fernández was the runner-up ...

Betty Stöve Betty Flippina Stöve (born 24 June 1945) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. She is best known for reaching the ladies' singles final, the ladies' doubles final and the mixed doubles final during the same year at Wimbledon in 1977. S ...

, and

Sylvia Hanika Sylvia Hanika (born 30 November 1959) is a former professional tennis player from Germany. She is remembered for finishing as the runner-up at the French Open in 1981 and for winning the Year End Championships in 1982. She was ranked as high as ...

. She was a member of the 1984

United States Fed Cup team The United States women's national tennis team is the most successful national team in Billie Jean King Cup competition. The team has won 18 titles and finished second a further 12 times, out of 60 participations. History The United States won t ...

. Horvath played in the 1984 Olympics when tennis was reintroduced as a demonstration sport and was the first seed. She was coached by

Harry Hopman Henry Christian Hopman Order of the British Empire, 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, New South Wales, Glebe, Sydney as the third c ...

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 at the 1984 Summer Olympics Tennis players from Chicago Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles Sportspeople from Millburn, New Jersey 21st-century American women 20th-century American sportswomen