Varalee "Sandy" Sureephong (born May 2, 1976) 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 ...

player.

Biography

Born in

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...

, Sureephong is of

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

descent and was raised in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, then later

Haines City, Florida Haines City is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. Its population was 13,174 at the 2000 census and 20,535 at the 2010 census. It is the third most populous city in Polk County. It is part of the Lakeland– Winter Haven Metropolitan S ...

. She has been known by "Sandy" since childhood, a nickname which her parents gave her. Sureephong was a four-time

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n tennis player at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, which she attended from 1995 to 1999. She was twice named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year. On the professional tour she reached a best singles ranking of 368 and was ranked as high as 158 in the world for doubles. She competed in four

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 tourna ...

main draws in doubles and was most successful in partnership with Canada's

Vanessa Webb Vanessa Webb (born 24 January 1976) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. She is currently the Player Class Director for the WTA Board of Directors. In her career, she won ten singles and 25 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She ...

, with whom she won four of her six ITF doubles titles. The pair featured in the qualifying draw for the

1994 Wimbledon Championships The 1994 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 108th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held from ...

. Her husband is former

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

basketball player

Ricky Blanton Ricky Wayne Blanton (born April 21, 1966) is a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the National Basketball Association's Phoenix Suns in the 2nd round (46th overall) of the 1989 NBA Draft. A 6'7" and 215 lb for ...

ITF finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Doubles: 14 (6–8)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sureephong, Sandy 1976 births Living people American female tennis players Tennis players from Florida Texas Longhorns women's tennis players American sportspeople of Thai descent People from Haines City, Florida Sportspeople from Polk County, Florida Sportspeople from Charleston, West Virginia