Susan Gilchrist (born April 12, 1971) 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 now an associate professor at the

MD Anderson Cancer Center The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (colloquially MD Anderson Cancer Center) is a comprehensive cancer center in Houston, Texas. It is the largest cancer center in the U.S. and one of the original three comprehensive cancer centers ...

Tennis career

Gilchrist, who grew up in

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

, made her grand slam main draw debut at the 1989 US Open. She lost in the last qualifying round of the singles, but partnered with

Audra Keller Audra Keller (born November 17, 1971) is a retired American professional tennis player who competed on the WTA Tour from 1988 to 1996. In 1991, she was runner-up to Katerina Maleeva Katerina Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Катерина Георг ...

in the women's doubles main draw, where they lost in the opening round to eventual finalists

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 ...

and

Pam Shriver Pamela Howard Shriver (born July 4, 1962) is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis broadcaster and pundit. During the 1980s and 1990s, Shriver won 133 titles, including 21 singles titles, 111 women's doubles titles, an ...

. From 1989 to 1993, Gilchrist played college tennis for the

University of Texas at Austin 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 ...

(UT Austin). A four-time All-American in both singles and doubles, she was also named Southwest Conference Player of the Year on three occasions. In 1993 she was a member of UT Austin's NCAA Division I Tennis Championship winning team. During the final she upset higher ranked Stanford opponent

Laxmi Poruri Laxmi Poruri-Madan (born November 9, 1972) is a retired American professional tennis player and the first Indian-American female to play professional tennis on the WTA Tour in the modern era. Poruri was born in Guntur, India and raised in Central ...

, then later in the doubles with

Vickie Paynter Vickie Paynter–Finney (born August 27, 1971) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Biography College tennis Paynter grew up in Denville Township, New Jersey and graduated from Morris Knolls High School in 1989. She play ...

won the match which secured the title. She and Paynter were the top ranking doubles pairing in college tennis. While in college she competed in the occasional professional tournament and won the Lady Lake ITF event in 1992. As a doubles player she won six ITF titles and reached a best ranking of 120 in the world in 1994, her first full year on tour after college tennis. The 1994 season, which was her last in professional tennis, included two doubles quarter-finals in WTA Tour tournaments, at Houston and Prague, both with Vickie Paynter. They also featured in the main draw together at the

1994 French Open The 1994 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 23 May until 5 June. It was the 98th staging of the French Open, and the second Gr ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilchrist, Susan 1971 births Living people American female tennis players Universiade medalists in tennis FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States Texas Longhorns women's tennis players Tennis people from Alabama University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center faculty Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade