Cara Black

Cara Cavell Black (born 17 February 1979) is a Zimbabwean former professional tennis player.

Black was primarily a doubles specialist, winning 60 WTA Tour and 11 ITF doubles titles.

A former doubles world No. 1, she won ten major titles.

From 1996 through to 2000, Black's debut years, she won 8 ITF doubles titles, 1 WTA doubles title in Auckland, and 4 ITF singles titles.

Having also won one singles title on the WTA Tour, Black peaked at world No. 31 in the singles rankings in March 1999.

Black was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) to Donald and Velia Black.

Her father and older brothers, Wayne and Byron Black, were all professional tennis players themselves.

She also won a big ITF doubles tournament in Santa Clara in 1999.

Black then missed all tournaments following the US Open and did not qualify for the WTA Championships for the first time since 1999.

She reached the 2000 US Open doubles final with Elena Likhovtseva.

The siblings all competed mostly in doubles – Wayne was the 2001 US Open and 2005 Australian Open champion and Byron was the 1994 French Open winner.

Black partnered with her brother Wayne to win the 2002 French Open and 2004 Wimbledon Championships mixed-doubles events.

Black has also engaged in long-term partnerships with Irina Selyutina, Elena Likhovtseva, Rennae Stubbs, Liezel Huber, and most recently Sania Mirza.

She has also won five Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, two of them partnering with her brother Wayne: the 2002 French Open and the 2004 Wimbledon Championships (they reached the final of the 2004 French Open and the semifinals of the 2003 French Open and 2003 US Open).

Her only WTA singles title came at Waikoloa in 2002.

Cara has won five Grand Slam women's doubles titles in her career: Wimbledon 2004, 2005, and 2007; Australian Open 2007; and US Open 2008.

In August 2005, Black announced that she would marry her longtime boyfriend, Australian mental and fitness trainer Brett Stephens.

In November 2005, Black was runner-up in the WTA Championships doubles title.

Australian Samantha Stosur and American Lisa Raymond defeated Australian Rennae Stubbs and Black 6–7 (5–7), 7–5, 6–4.

In 2007, Black came back to partner Liezel Huber.

They won the 2007 Australian Open and Wimbledon.

The team ended the year as the number one team, winning the year-end championships over Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama 5–7, 6–3, [10–8].

She won three further titles in partnership with Leander Paes: the 2008 US Open, the 2010 Australian Open and the 2010 Wimbledon Championships.

Black represented Zimbabwe at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

She lost to 2nd seeded Jelena Janković from Serbia in the first round on 11 August 2008.

She teamed up with Leander Paes from India for the mixed doubles at the US Open, triumphing over Liezel Huber and Jamie Murray in the finals.

In 2009, she won five doubles titles leading to the year-end championships in Doha, Qatar.

By winning the 2010 Australian Open mixed doubles title, Black became the third woman in the Open Era to complete the career Grand Slam in mixed doubles (after Martina Navratilova and Daniela Hantuchová).

Black started 2010 strongly by winning two tournaments leading up to the Australian Open, coming to the slam with an unbeaten record.

Black made it to the finals in both the women's doubles and mixed doubles.

She and Huber lost the women's doubles final to Venus and Serena Williams in straight sets, 4–6, 3–6.

However, she and Leander Paes won the mixed doubles in straight sets.

The victory marked Black's first mixed doubles victory at the Australian Open.

The victory also completed a 'Career Grand Slam' in mixed doubles.

Black and Huber broke up as exclusive doubles partners in April 2010.

Since then, Black has partnered with Shahar Pe'er, Elena Vesnina, Yan Zi, Lisa Raymond, Daniela Hantuchová, Marina Erakovic, and Anastasia Rodionova.

Even though she made the final of Warsaw and won a small tournament in Birmingham, she mostly achieved modest results after the break-up.

Partnering with Vesnina and Hantuchová respectively, she lost in the third round of the French Open and Wimbledon.

Partnering with Rodionova, she lost in the semifinals of the US Open to eventual champions Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova.

The couple's son was born in 2012 following her break from tennis after Wimbledon 2011.