Introduction
Beth Herr (born May 28, 1964) is an American tennis player from Centerville, Ohio, who won four Junior Grand Slam Titles, the NCAA Singles and Team Titles and 11 professional tennis tournaments. In her home state of Ohio, she was a two-time high school Singles State Champion (80-81). Her NCAA singles champion came in 1983.
College
Beth Herr became the number 1 junior tennis player in the world at age 16. Upon graduation from Centerville High School, she was the #1 college recruit in 1982 and went on to play for the University of Southern California, where she won the NCAA singles title and team title in her freshman year. She beat Clemson's Gigi Fernández 7–6 in the third set after being down a match point to win the NCAA singles final.
Junior grand slams
In 1982, Beth Herr won the 1982 French Open girls' doubles championship with Janet Lagasse., Beth Herr also Wimbledon girls' doubles and US Open girls' doubles with Penny Barg. She also won the US Open girls' singles in the same year.
Professional career
Beth Herr cut short college and went directly into professional tennis after the NCAA Championship and played on tour for 11 years with wins over Pam Shriver, Hana Mandlíková, Martina Navratilova, Virginia Wade, and Mary Joe Fernandez. She lost a match to Billie Jean King at Wimbledon 8–6 in the third round. Commentators on HBO Breakfast at Wimbledon mentioned her ability to hit numerous swinging volleys out of the air for winners as it was something that had not been done before especially by a female.
WTA career finals
| Legend | ||
|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| WTA Championships | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Tier I | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Tier II | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Tier III | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| Tier IV & V | 1–0 | 0–3 |
Singles (1 runners-up)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 24 March 1986 | Virginia Slims of Arizona, Phoenix | Clay | Ann Henricksson | 6–0, 3–6, 7–5 |
Personal life
After tennis, she finished her undergraduate degree at UCLA and then went to law school at UCLA. She married Tennis Channel founder Steve Bellamy and after a short stint as a lawyer at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips,.
She later won the US Open and World Championships of paddle tennis and teamed with Scotty Freedman to become the greatest mixed doubles team in the sports' 112-year history as they were undefeated as a team from 2000 to 2007.