Melanie Jayne South was born on 3 May 1986 and is a former English tennis player.
49 Facts About Melanie South
2.
Melanie South won six singles and 24 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
3.
At the time, South was ranked No 305 in the world and had reached the main-draw courtesy of a wildcard.
4.
Melanie South lost in the second round to Shenay Perry, the world No 62.
5.
Outside of Wimbledon, Melanie South reached the first round of the 2009 Australian Open without needing to qualify or receiving a wildcard.
6.
Melanie South lost to world No 17 Marion Bartoli in round one.
7.
Melanie South announced her retirement from professional tennis on 2 December 2013 in order to focus on a coaching career.
8.
Melanie South's mother is called Sheila and her father, John, used to play professional football for Fulham and Brentford.
9.
Melanie South has two brothers, Andrew and Stephen, who both used to play tennis recreationally.
10.
Melanie South began playing tennis herself at the age of six.
11.
Melanie South attended Nonsuch High School in Cheam, South London where she gained seven GCSEs and two A grades in A-level Psychology and PE as well as a grade C in A-level General Studies.
12.
Melanie South is currently furthering her education by taking an Open University course in Understanding Health which she hopes will lead onto another course in psychology.
13.
Melanie South regularly served aces and got many more free points from other serves which could not be returned, which made her a difficult player to break when she played at her best.
14.
Melanie South hit 45 winners and 48 unforced errors during this match, a statistic which demonstrates her aggressive, high-risk attitude to tennis.
15.
Melanie South moves well for a big girl but you can see that lateral movement is a problem for her.
16.
Melanie South debuted on the ITF Junior Circuit in June 1999.
17.
Melanie South saw very little in the way of singles success until July 2002, when she reached her first tournament quarterfinal at The Scottish Junior Championships.
18.
Melanie South competed in the Wimbledon girls' tournament only twice and lost in the first round each time.
19.
Melanie South spent the rest of 2002 playing in ITF tournaments in Great Britain, not getting past the second round in any of them.
20.
Melanie South finished 2002 with her world ranking at No 931.
21.
Melanie South again failed to progress further than the second round of any of these tournaments and at the end of the 2003 season she had a ranking of No 851.
22.
Melanie South lost in the first round of the qualifying tournament to Maria Kirilenko.
23.
Melanie South immediately received another wildcard into the qualifying draw of Wimbledon, but lost in straight sets to Bethanie Mattek in the first round.
24.
Melanie South's ranking was world No 449 at the end of 2005.
25.
Melanie South lost in the first round of the Birmingham Classic to fellow wildcard Sarah Borwell in three sets, and lost in the first round of qualifying for the Tier-II tournament in Eastbourne.
26.
Melanie South lost to Shenay Perry in the second round.
27.
Melanie South's win over world No 14 Schiavone was a career-first top-20 victory, and the best win in terms of ranking for a British player since Sam Smith beat No 7, Conchita Martinez, at Wimbledon in 1998.
28.
Melanie South failed to qualify for the US Open for the second year in a row.
29.
Melanie South started her 2008 season by attempting to qualify for the Auckland Open.
30.
Melanie South reached the final round of qualifying before falling to compatriot Elena Baltacha.
31.
Melanie South then went on to lose to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the first round of qualifying for the Australian Open.
32.
Melanie South was beaten in the first round of qualifying for the French Open by fellow Brit Katie O'Brien.
33.
Melanie South defeated fellow British wildcard Anna Fitzpatrick in round one before beating No 4 seed Sybille Bammer in the second.
34.
Melanie South entered the main draw of the Wimbledon Championships courtesy of another wildcard and gave No 28 seed Alona Bondarenko a battle in round one.
35.
However, No 2 seed Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament before her first-round match resulting in Melanie South getting into the main draw as a lucky loser.
36.
Melanie South followed this up by qualifying for the Rogers Cup where tenth seed Marion Bartoli beat her in round one.
37.
Melanie South lost to Jarmila Gajdosova, Natalie Grandin, beat Yurika Sema and then lost to Lu Jingjing respectively.
38.
Melanie South finished the year with a run to the quarterfinals of the $75k tournament in Toyota, giving her a year-end ranking of world No 116.
39.
Melanie South followed this up by entering the qualifying draw for the Sydney International, a Premier event.
40.
Melanie South defeated Akgul Amanmuradova, Kristina Barrois and Yuan Meng to qualify for the tournament.
41.
Melanie South was defeated in the second round by No 2 seed, Caroline Wozniacki, in straight sets.
42.
Melanie South broke into the top 100 for the first time on 2 February 2009, achieving a career-high ranking of 99.
43.
Melanie South spent the following week in Estonia playing in the 2009 Fed Cup alongside compatriots Anne Keothavong, Elena Baltacha and doubles specialist Sarah Borwell.
44.
Melanie South beat Fabienne Thill, and followed this victory up with another in doubles, beating Mandy Minella and Thill with partner Sarah Borwell.
45.
Melanie South followed this up with a victory on the WTA Tour at the Birmingham Classic over Katie O'Brien before falling to first seed Zheng Jie.
46.
Melanie South then lost in qualifying at Eastbourne and in the first round of Wimbledon to Vera Dushevina and Mathilde Johansson respectively.
47.
Melanie South had little success on the ITF Circuit until a Glasgow $25k event where she reached the final as the second seed.
48.
In doubles, Melanie South captured two titles in Helsinki and Glasgow, partnering Emma Laine for both titles.
49.
Melanie South achieved a first-round win over Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko at Wimbledon, alongside fellow Brit Jocelyn Rae.