Mashona Washington (born May 31, 1976) is a former

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. Her career-high singles ranking is No. 50, achieved on November 8, 2004. On July 18, 2005, she peaked at No. 55 in the doubles rankings. Washington retired from professional tennis in 2012, aged 36.

Biography

Washington attended high school in Michigan, moved to

Delray Beach, Florida Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020, was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 United States Census. Located in the Miami metropolitan area, De ...

in her sophomore year, graduating from Lake Worth Christian School,

Boynton Beach, Florida Boynton Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is situated about north of Miami. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded a population of 80,380. Boynton Beach is located in the Mi ...

in 1994, and moved to Houston, Texas, in 1997. She is the younger sister of Mashiska and of

MaliVai Washington MaliVai "Mal" Washington ( ) (born June 20, 1969) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at Wimbledon in 1996, won four ATP titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in Octobe ...

, who reached the men's singles final at Wimbledon in 1996.

Tennis career

As a junior player, Washington won the U.S. Indoor National 18s in 1992, and was a finalist at the U.S. National Hardcourt 16s and U.S. Indoor National 16s in 1991. She turned professional in 1995. After a slow start to her professional career, Washington's breakthrough year came in 2004 when she broke into the world's top 100 for the first time and then finished the year ranked in the top 50. She recorded her first win against a top-10 player when she defeated

Maria Sharapova Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (, ; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks. Sharapova won 36 WTA Tour-level sin ...

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

, and reached her first top-level singles final in Tokyo where she lost to Sharapova. She also came within a hair's breadth of beating Sharapova in the first round of the

2006 French Open The 2006 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France from 28 May to 11 June 2006. It was the 105th staging of the French Open, and the second of the four Grand Slam te ...

. She served for the match at 5–2 but could not hold serve. At 5–4 in the third set, she held match points before the then world No. 4 broke back and won the final set 7–5. In 2005, she reached the third round at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, before

Elena Dementieva Elena Viacheslavovna Dementieva (, ; born 15 October 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was WTA rankings, ranked world No. 3 in women's singles and world No. 5 in women's doubles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Dem ...

beat her 7–5, 6–1. She was a member of the

Washington Kastles The Washington Kastles was one of eight franchises that compete in World TeamTennis. Founded in 2008 and based in Washington, D.C., the Kastles won the WTT championship six times, tied for a league record. The team was named for Kastle Systems, ...

World TeamTennis World TeamTennis (WTT) was a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally took place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA would ...

squad from 2008–09 and the

Boston Lobsters The Boston Lobsters were a World TeamTennis team based in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Lobsters played home matches at the Walter Brown Arena, Boston University, in Boston, MA. The most recent Boston Lobsters were a ...

from 2010-12. Mashona Washington has since retired.

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 1 (runner-up)

Doubles: 2 (runner-ups)

ITF finals

Singles (2–10)

Doubles (15–11)

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Mashona 1976 births Living people African-American tennis players American female tennis players Sportspeople from Delray Beach, Florida Sportspeople from Flint, Michigan Tennis players from Florida Tennis players from Michigan 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen