Zina Garrison Biography

At the age of 10, Garrison began playing tennis, and at the age of 12, she participated in her first competition. The tennis community instantly took note of her success when she was a junior player. She won the national girls' 18s title at the age of 14. She later became the world's best junior player in 1981 after winning the junior divisional championships at Wimbledon and the US Open. In 1982, Garrison received his diploma from Houston's Sterling High School. Following the passing of her mother, Garrison developed the eating disorder bulimia when she was 19 years old. Garrison stated to the British Observer Sport Monthly in 2006, "I had never been satisfied with my appearance and thought I had lost the only person who loved me unreservedly." "Being under pressure to be "the next Althea Gibson" just made matters worse. I believed that I would never be permitted to fully develop into my own identity." Garrison became a professional in 1982, skipping her high school graduation to play in the French Open, her first professional match, where she advanced to the quarterfinals until Martina Navratilova eliminated her. Despite struggling with bulimia for the first several years of her career on the tour, Garrison achieved a lot of success there. In 1983, her first year on the circuit in its entirety, she advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals and ended the year ranked No. 10 in the world. At the European Indoor Championships in Zürich in 1984, she got her first elite singles victories. She made it to the Wimbledon semifinals in 1985, and at the Canadian Open in 1986, she claimed her maiden professional doubles victory (partnering with Gabriela Sabatini). In 1987, Garrison and Sherwood Stewart won the mixed doubles event at the Australian Open, and they placed second in the women's doubles event (partnering with Lori McNeil). Garrison and Stewart won the mixed doubles championship at Wimbledon the following year. In the women's doubles final at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Jana Novotná and Helena Suková of the Czechoslovak Republic were defeated by Garrison and Pam Shriver of the United States. In the singles event's quarterfinals, when she earned a bronze medal, Garrison also beat Shriver. She upset reigning champion, Martina Navratilova, at the US Open for the first time in her career, moving on to the quarterfinals where she was defeated by Sabatini. In what turned out to be Chris Evert's final Grand Slam singles match, Garrison beat Evert 7-6, 6-2 in the semifinals of the 1989 US Open. Following that, Garrison was defeated by Navrátilová in the semifinals. She ended 1989 with a singles World No. 4 ranking, which was a career-best. Garrison's career high point was at Wimbledon in 1990. For the first time since Althea Gibson, she advanced to her first (and only) Grand Slam singles final after defeating French Open winner Monica Seles in the quarterfinals 3-6, 6-3, 9-7, and Wimbledon champion and World No. 1 Steffi Graf in the semifinals 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. She was defeated by Navrátilová, who had just won a record-tying seventh Wimbledon women's singles title, 6-4, 6-1. However, Garrison won her third Grand Slam mixed doubles championship that year at Wimbledon (partnering Rick Leach). In the women's doubles competition at the 1992 Australian Open, Garrison came in second (partnering Mary Joe Fernandez). In 1996, Garrison ended his professional career. She won 20 doubles titles and 14 elite singles titles throughout her career. Garrison has worked as a television pundit after leaving the circuit and continued to play an active part in tennis and the community. In addition to the Zina Garrison All-Court Tennis Program, which promotes inner-city tennis in Houston, she also established the Zina Garrison Foundation for the Homeless in 1988. Additionally, she has had a position on the US President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. She belongs to the sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. Prior to Mary Joe Fernandez taking over as captain of the U.S. Federation Cup squad in 2008, Garrison continued to be active in the world of professional tennis. This position includes team coaching and on-court counsel. Venus and Serena Williams, members of the American women's tennis team, won a gold medal in the doubles competition at the 2008 Beijing Games under her leadership.

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