Sylvia Hanika (born 30 November 1959) is a former professional tennis player from Germany. She is best remembered for finishing runner-up at the French Open in 1981, and for winning the Year End Championships in 1982. She was ranked as high as No. 5 in the world and played left-handed.

Career

Hanika turned professional in 1977. In 1981, Hanika reached the women's singles final at the French Open, where she was defeated 6–2, 6–4 by

Hana Mandlíková Hana Mandlíková (born 19 February 1962) is a former professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia who later obtained Australian citizenship. During her career she won four Grand Slam singles titles - the 1980 Australian Open, 1981 French Op ...

. In 1982, Hanika posted the biggest win of her career when she defeated world No. 2

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...

1–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the final of the Avon Series Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Garden was also the site of Hanika's last big singles win: a 6–4, 6–4 defeat of No. 3 Chris Evert in the first round of the Virginia Slims Championships in 1987. Hanika won her final top-level singles title in Athens, Greece in 1986. She retired from the tour in 1990, having won six professional singles titles and one doubles title. Between serves she was known to bounce the ball more than anyone tennis commentator and historian Bud Collins remembers: "...as many as into the 30s. If she faulted on the first, it was awful, another 30 or so bounces.""Strange Habits of Highly Successful Tennis Players" by Christopher Clarey, 21 June 2008 in ''The New York Times''.

Major finals

Grand Slam final

Singles: 1 (0 titles, 1 runner–up)

Year-End Championships final

Singles: 1 (1 title, 0 runners-up)

WTA career finals

Singles: 24 (6–18)

Doubles: 3 (1–2)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanika, Sylvia 1959 births Living people Tennis players from Munich German female tennis players German expatriates in Spain West German female tennis players Olympic tennis players of West Germany Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics