Mary Caroline Pierce was born on 15 January 1975 and is a retired tennis professional who represented France internationally in team competitions and the Olympics.
52 Facts About Mary Pierce
2.
Mary Pierce was born in Canada to an American father and a French mother, and holds citizenship of all three countries.
3.
Mary Pierce reached six Grand Slam singles finals, most recently at the US Open and French Open in 2005.
4.
Mary Pierce won the doubles event at the 2000 French Open with Martina Hingis as her partner, and reached an additional Grand Slam women's doubles final at the 2000 Australian Open, partnering Hingis.
5.
Mary Pierce won the mixed doubles event at the 2005 Wimbledon Championships, partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi.
6.
Mary Pierce won 18 singles titles and 10 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including five Tier I singles events.
7.
Mary Pierce twice reached the final of the season-ending WTA Tour Championships.
8.
Mary Pierce was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2019.
9.
Mary Pierce was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Yannick Adjaj and Jim Pierce.
10.
Mary Pierce's mother is French and her father American, qualifying Pierce for citizenship in all three countries.
11.
Mary Pierce was raised in the United States and represented France in international tennis competitions.
12.
Mary Pierce speaks English and French fluently, and lives in Mauritius as of May 2019.
13.
Mary Pierce was briefly engaged to baseball player Roberto Alomar in 1999 and later to Air France pilot David Emmanuel Ades, but broke off both engagements.
14.
Mary Pierce had a difficult relationship with her father, who developed a reputation as an abusive tennis father, threatening and even attacking her as well as others.
15.
Mary Pierce's dad developed an interest in the sport, and became her coach for many years.
16.
Mary Pierce won her first WTA Tour singles tournament in July 1991 in Palermo by defeating Sandra Cecchini in the final.
17.
In July 1993, Mary Pierce successfully filed for a restraining order against her father, who was known to be verbally abusive to his daughter and her opponents, and was banned by the WTA from attending her tournaments.
18.
Mary Pierce reached her first Grand Slam singles final at the 1994 French Open.
19.
Mary Pierce reached her career-high singles ranking of world No 3 that year.
20.
Mary Pierce won the Japan Open, defeating Sanchez Vicario in the final.
21.
Mary Pierce was back in the Australian Open singles final in 1997, where she lost to Martina Hingis in straight sets.
22.
Mary Pierce lost in that year's WTA Tour Championships final to Jana Novotna.
23.
Mary Pierce was a member of the French team that won the 1997 Fed Cup, and her only title that season was the Italian Open, defeating Conchita Martinez in the final.
24.
Mary Pierce won the Comeback Player of the Year award for ending the year at world No 7 after starting at world No 21.
25.
Mary Pierce won four titles in 1998: the Paris indoor event, the Amelia Island Championships, the Kremlin Cup, and the Luxembourg Open.
26.
Mary Pierce won her second Grand Slam singles title and her first Grand Slam doubles title at the 2000 French Open.
27.
Mary Pierce partnered with Hingis to win the women's doubles crown, their second Grand Slam tournament of the year after the Australian Open.
28.
Mary Pierce's ranking dropped to No 130 at the end of 2001 and reached almost 300 in April 2002.
29.
Mary Pierce helped France win the Fed Cup for a second time in 2003 by defeating the United States in the final.
30.
At the Olympics in Athens, Mary Pierce defeated sixth-seeded Venus Williams in the third round before losing to top-seeded and eventual gold-medallist Justine Henin of Belgium in the quarterfinals.
31.
At the US Open later in the year, Mary Pierce defeated recent Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, before losing to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round.
32.
Mary Pierce then made it back into the top ranks of the women's game in 2005.
33.
Mary Pierce then reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the first time since 1996.
34.
Mary Pierce faced Venus Williams in that quarterfinal and lost the match after a second set tiebreak consisting of 22 points.
35.
Mary Pierce won the mixed-doubles title at Wimbledon, partnering Mahesh Bhupathi.
36.
Mary Pierce's year-end ranking was world No 5 compared to her year-beginning ranking of world No 29.
37.
Mary Pierce trained hard in the off-season in a bid to win major titles in 2006.
38.
Mary Pierce defeated Nicole Pratt of Australia in the first round before losing to Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic in the second round.
39.
Mary Pierce reached the final of her next tournament, the Gaz de France in Paris, where she lost to compatriot Amelie Mauresmo in straight sets.
40.
In just her second tournament in over six months, Mary Pierce played at the US Open and lost to Li Na, the 24th seed from China, in the third round.
41.
Mary Pierce then lost in the first round of the next three tournaments she played.
42.
Mary Pierce was defeated at the Luxembourg Open by Alona Bondarenko, who went on to win the title.
43.
Mary Pierce had held three match points before the injury.
44.
Mary Pierce underwent a successful operation in December 2006 and missed all of 2007.
45.
Mary Pierce was expected to return to the tour in 2008, but at the end of that year she was still sidelined with no projected return date.
46.
Mary Pierce helped with the social side to the French Open, taking part in the post-match ceremony after the women's final.
47.
Mary Pierce was named as a member of the French Olympic team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
48.
On 21 July 2008 Mary Pierce withdrew from the Olympics because of injury.
49.
Mary Pierce was an aggressive baseline player, who had a reputation for being one of the hardest hitters on the WTA tour, and would dictate a match from the first point.
50.
Mary Pierce was one of the most aggressive players on return, and could hit return winners at will.
51.
Mary Pierce was one of the least defensive players on the tour, predicating her game on raw power and aggression.
52.
Mary Pierce's game was heavily affected by nerves, and, when nervous, she would take increasingly long amounts of time preparing between points.