Kerry Melville

Kerry Melville
MBE

Melville in 1970
Full name	Kerry Melville Reid
Country (sports)	Australia
Born	(1947-08-07) 7 August 1947 (age 74) Mosman, New South Wales
Height	167 cm (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Retired	1979
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record	236–104
Career titles	22
Highest ranking	No. 7 (4 July 1976)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1977Jan)
French Open	SF (1967)
Wimbledon	SF (1974)
US Open	F (1972)
Doubles
Career record	172–64
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1968, 1977Dec)
Wimbledon	W (1978)
US Open	F (1978)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (1966)
French Open	QF (1969)
Wimbledon	QF (1977)
US Open	QF (1966)

Kerry Melville Reid MBE (née Melville; born 7 August 1947) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. During her 17-year career, Reid won one Grand Slam singles title and 26 other singles titles and was the runner-up in 40 singles tournaments. Reid was included in the year-end world top 10 rankings for 12 consecutive years (1968–1979)^{[citation needed]}. She won at least one tournament annually from 1966 through 1979, except for 1975. Her career-high ranking was World No. 5 in 1971, behind Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong, and Rosie Casals.

Career[]

Melville began her Grand Slam tennis career in 1963 when she reached the third round of the Australian Championships. In 1966, she reached the semifinals of both the Australian and US Championships, defeating Billie Jean King in the second round of the latter tournament. In 1967, Melville again reached the semifinals of the Australian Championships and reached the semifinals of the French Championships for the first and only time.

Melville was the women's singles runner-up at the 1970 Australian Open, losing to Margaret Court in the final in straight sets.^[2] She also was the women's singles runner-up at the US Open in 1972, losing to King after defeating Chris Evert in one semifinal 6–4, 6–2.

In 1972, Melville reached the final of the inaugural WTA Tour Championships, where she lost to Evert 7–5, 6–4.^[3]

In January 1977, Reid won her only Grand Slam singles title when she defeated fellow Australian Dianne Fromholtz 7–5, 6–2 in the final of the Australian Open. Reid and Fromholtz were the only top 10 players who played the tournament. The previous week, Reid also defeated Fromholtz in the final of the New South Wales Open, where Reid and Fromholtz again were the only top 10 players who entered. On both the Virginia Slims and the Colgate Grand Prix tours in 1977, Reid qualified for the season-ending tournaments (each limited to the top eight players on the respective tour). In World Team Tennis, Reid was undefeated in singles against both Martina Navratilova and Virginia Wade, defeating each three times.^{[citation needed]}

Reid capped her last year on the professional tour in 1979 by beating Navratilova for the first time in tournament play. Reid defeated Navratilova in a Family Circle Cup semifinal 6–3, 7–6, then lost to Tracy Austin in the final 7–6, 7–6. Reid also competed in the year-ending WTA Tour Championships (limited to the year's top 8 players).

Melville Reid won the Australian Open women's doubles title twice, outright in 1968 and shared in December 1977. With Wendy Turnbull in 1978, Reid won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon, was the doubles runner-up at the US Open, and won the doubles titles at the Virginia Slims of Seattle, the Virginia Slims of Philadelphia, the US Women's Indoor Championships, and the New South Wales Open.

Melville was a member of the Australian team that won the Federation Cup in 1968. She also helped Australia reach four consecutive Federation Cup finals from 1976 through 1979 on a variety of court surfaces. During that run, she beat several top players, including Rosemary Casals (1976 final on carpet), Wade (1977 semifinal on grass in Eastbourne just weeks before Wade's Wimbledon victory), Austin (1978 final in Melbourne on grass) and Hana Mandlíková (1979 semifinal on clay).

Reid defeated Austin the first three times they played, although Austin won their remaining five career matches. Reid also defeated Mandlikova in both of their career matches.

Reid was a member of the "Houston 9", the breakaway group led by Gladys Heldman in 1971 that formed the nucleus of the women's professional tennis tour.^[4]

Reid anchored a World Team Tennis team for each season of its inaugural incarnation (Boston Lobsters 1974–1976 and San Diego Friars 1977–1978). Following is an HBO telecast of a 1978 WTT match between Reid and Sue Barker of the Phoenix Racquets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsWu-XVRIPU

Personal life[]

She married Grover "Raz" Reid, a Boston Lobsters teammate, on 27 April 1975 in Greenville, South Carolina.^[5] Raz retired as a player in 1977 and coached Kerry during the remaining three years of her playing career. The Reids then retired to Raz's home state of South Carolina and raised two daughters.

Honours and awards[]

Reid was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1979. In 2014, she was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame.^[6] Reid was among the "Original Nine" inducted into the Internanal Tennis Hall of Fame on July 17, 2021. https://www.tennisfame.com/original9and https://www.tennisfame.com/news/2021/class-of-2020-2021-induction-ceremony

Grand Slam finals[]

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)[]

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1970	Australian Open	Grass	Margaret Court	3–6, 1–6
Loss	1972	US Open	Grass	Billie Jean King	3–6, 5–7
Win	1977(J)	Australian Open	Grass	Dianne Fromholtz	7–5, 6–2

Women's doubles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runners-up)[]

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1968	Australian Championships	Grass	Karen Krantzcke	Judy Tegart Dalton Lesley Turner	6–4, 3–6, 6–2
Loss	1970	Australian Open	Grass	Karen Krantzcke	Margaret Court Judy Tegart Dalton	3–6, 1–6
Loss	1973	Australian Open	Grass	Kerry Harris	Margaret Court Virginia Wade	4–6, 4–6
Loss	1974	Australian Open	Grass	Kerry Harris	Evonne Goolagong Peggy Michel	5–7, 3–6
Loss	1977(J)	Australian Open	Grass	Betsy Nagelsen	Helen Gourlay Dianne Fromholtz	7–5, 1–6, 4–6
Win	1977(D)	Australian Open	Grass	Mona Guerrant	Evonne Goolagong Helen Gourlay	title shared, final rained out
Win	1978	Wimbledon	Grass	Wendy Turnbull	Mima Jaušovec Virginia Ruzici	4–6, 9–8(12–10), 6–3
Loss	1978	US Open	Hard	Wendy Turnbull	Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova	6–7, 4–6

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline[]

¹ The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.
^2,3 Melville did not play. Her opponent got a walkover.

See also[]

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

References[]

External links[]

• Media related to Kerry Melville at Wikimedia Commons
• Kerry Melville at the Women's Tennis Association
• Kerry Melville at the International Tennis Federation
• Kerry Melville at the Billie Jean King Cup
• Kerry Melville at Tennis Australia