Naomi Cavaday

Naomi Kathleen Cavaday (born 24 April 1989) is a British former professional tennis player from Sidcup, London.

Cavaday competed on the ITF Junior Circuit from May 2004 to July 2007.

Cavaday made her debut on the ITF Women's Circuit in January 2005 and in only the fourth professional tournament of her career she qualified and beat Isha Lakhani, 6–4, 6–1, in the final to win the event.

Nevertheless, she finished 2005 without a world ranking.

She was a quarterfinalist at a total of nine tournaments, one of which was the 2006 Wimbledon girls' championships where she lost to Urszula Radwańska, 3–6, 2–6.

She reached the semifinals of the ITF Junior Cup Copenhagen, Danish ITF Junior Tournament and the Optus Nottinghill International and was a finalist in the Malta ITF Junior Tournament, Safina Cup, French Riviera International Junior Open and the Tournoi International Juniors de Beaulieu sur Mer.

She won one junior singles title at the Istres International Junior Tournament in April 2006 where she also won her only junior doubles title in the same year.

In January 2006, Cavaday qualified for and reached the semifinal of the Tipton $10k event and at the start of February she competed in her first ever $25k event in Jersey where she was beaten, 4–6, 1–6, by Anne Keothavong in round one.

One month later, Cavaday qualified for Sunderland $10k and reached the final where she was defeated by Gaëlle Widmer in three sets, 1–6, 6–3, 1–6.

This was immediately followed by a quarterfinal appearance in the $10k in Sheffield and a semifinal appearance in another $10k event, this one in Bath, where she lost to up-and-comer Urszula Radwańska, 6–7(1), 3–6.

In her very next tournament, she yet again lost in the semifinal before receiving a wildcard into the Tier III Birmingham Classic qualifying draw.

She won one tough three set match against Tatiana Poutchek, 7–6(5), 3–6, 7–6(6), before losing another to Hungarian Melinda Czink, 6–3, 5–7, 5–7.

This was followed by Cavaday's first ever Grand Slam main-draw appearance, courtesy of a wildcard into home Grand Slam Wimbledon.

She played Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama and lost 4–6, 5–7.

During September and October, Cavaday played in one $10k tournament (where she lost in the quarterfinal) and three $25k tournaments where she reached the semifinals, quarterfinals and second round.

She rounded off her 2006 season in Australia with three more $25k tournaments in Mount Gambier, Port Pirie and Nurioopta where she reached the quarterfinal of the first tournament and the first round of the other two.

Her year-end ranking of 2006 was world No. 401.

Her best result at the Australian Open junior tournament was a first round defeat at the hands of Alizé Cornet, 1–6, 6–7(5), in 2007.

She participated in the French Open and US Open junior Grand Slam events only once, losing in the second round of qualifying for the French and the second round of the main draw of the US Open where she lost Tamira Paszek, 6–4, 4–6, 0–6.

Her career-high junior combined ranking was world No. 23 (achieved 19 March 2007) and her win–loss records for her junior career were 55–21 in singles and 28–19 in doubles.

During January and February of 2007, Cavaday competed in two $25k events in Great Britain and reached the quarterfinals of one of them.

She then headed to the U.S. in March where she won eight consecutive matches to qualify for and win the $25k in Orange, California.

In April she reached the quarterfinal stage in another $25k tournament, this one in Jackson, Mississippi.

She reached the semifinal of Palm Beach $25k in May before heading back to England and playing in the main draw of the Tier III Birmingham Classic courtesy of a wildcard where she beat Vasilisa Bardina, 6–2, 6–1, in round one.

Her career-high ranking was 174, achieved in May 2010.

She won three ITF singles titles and two ITF doubles titles.

Her coach at retirement was Rob Smith.

She was formerly coached by David Felgate, the long-time coach of Tim Henman.

She retired in April 2011 to take up a coaching role with the Lawn Tennis Association.

At the time of her retirement, she was the British No. 6, with a ranking of world No. 231.

Cavaday became an ambassador for Beat, the eating disorder charity, in 2011 and as of 2016 is a mental health ambassador for the LTA.

In 2014, Cavaday returned to professional tennis, regained a world ranking, and won three additional ITF titles.

She finally retired in 2015 and has since worked as a coach and as a commentator for BBC Radio Five Live's Wimbledon coverage and on Amazon Prime.

Cavaday was born in suburban south-east London.

Her mother is a sport psychologist and her brother has played tennis at county level and in America for North Carolina State University.

Up to the age of 13 years Cavaday studied at Bromley High School before getting a tennis scholarship to Queenswood School in Hertfordshire.

She has also studied at the highly prestigious Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida.

Cavaday took a course in journalism and creative writing and expressed an interest in becoming a sports journalist when her tennis career was over.

She appeared as a guest on the Al Jazeera English programme The Stream in July 2015, as part of a discussion on issues of female body image and its impact on sportswomen regarding their physiques.

In July 2019, Cavaday was married and in November 2020, Cavaday and her husband produced a baby boy.