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Mary Pierce (born  January 15 1975, in Montreal,
Canada) is a professional tennis player. She has
appeared in five Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam
singles finals during her career – winning
two of them – and also claimed two Grand
Slam doubles titles. 

Pirece was born in Montreal while her
France|French mother and United States|American
father were on a trip to the city, but she has
never lived in Canada. She was raised in the
United States and lives in Bradenton, Florida, but
also has French citizenship and has represented
France in international tennis competitions.

Pierce was introduced to tennis at the age of 10
by her father Jim Pierce. Just two years later,
she won the US national 12-and-under junior title.
In 1989, she became the youngest American player
to make her debut on the professional tour, aged
14 years and 2 months. (This record was broken the
following year by Jennifer Capriati.)

During her first few years on the tour, Pierce was
known more for the behaviour of her father than
her performances on court. Jim Pierce, who also
coached Mary, often shouted abuse at her opponents
during matches. On one occasion when he was
sitting in the stands, he famously screamed:
"Mary, kill the bitch!" He was also reportedly
often verbally and physically abusive to Mary
during practice sessions and after defeats. Jim
Pierce was ejected from the French Open in 1993
after he punched a spectator, following which he
was banned from all Women's Tennis Association
(WTA) Tour events until 1998. The incident also
prompted the WTA to pass a new rule (commonly
referred to as the "Jim Pierce Rule") which
prohibits abusive conduct on the part of players,
coaches and relatives. Mary dropped her father as
her coach in 1993 and took out a restraining order
against him. A few weeks later, he got into a
fight with her bodyguard at a hotel where she was
staying. He then sued her claiming that he had
been promised 25% of her earnings as a tennis
player, and she paid him US$500,000 to drop the
suit and leave her alone. She withdrew from
Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon in 1994 after a
British tabloid newspaper threatened to smuggle
her father into the grounds.

In 1994, Pierce reached her first Grand Slam final
at the French Open in record-breaking style. She
became first player to reach championship's fourth
round while dropping only two games. She conceded
just 10 games during her route to the final, which
included a 6-2, 6-2 thrashing of World No. 1
Steffi Graf in the semi-finals. In the final she
lost 6-4, 6-4 to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. 

In 1995, Pierce won her first Grand Slam title by
beating Sánchez Vicario 6-3, 6-2 in the final of
the Australian Open. She reached her career-high
singles ranking of World No. 3 that year. 

In 1997, Pierce was back in the Australian Open
singles final, where she lost 6-2, 6-2 to Martina
Hingis. She also lost in that year's WTA Tour
Championships final to Jana Novotná. Pierce was a
member of the French team which won the 1997 Fed
Cup.

Pierce won her second Grand Slam singles title and
her first Grand Slam doubles title at the French
Open in 2000. In the singles final, she defeated
Conchita Martínez 6-2, 7-5 to become the first
Frenchwoman to claim the title since Francoise
Durr in 1967. And she partnered Martina Hingis to
win the women's doubles crown (the pair had also
finished runners-up at the Australian Open earlier
that year).

Pierce helped France win the Fed Cup for a second
time in 2003.

In 2004, Pierce won her first title since the 2000
French Open at 's-Hertogenbosch, to bring her
career total to 16 singles titles. 


Pierce was engaged for a period to former Major
League Baseball player Roberto Alomar. However the
two stars are no longer together. Following her
split from her father in 1993, Pierce was coached
by Nick Bollettieri, whose tennis academy she had
briefly attended as a teenager in 1988. Her
brother David is currently her regular coach. She
has also recently become reconciled with father
Jim, and occassionally does practice sessions with
him.


== Pierce In 2005 ==

In 2005, Pierce reached the French Open singles
final for a third time, where she lost 6-1, 6-1 to
Justine Henin-Hardenne. She confirmed that the
appearance, which followed victories over
higher-ranked players including No. 1 Lindsay
Davenport, was no fluke when she reached the
quarter-finals of the 2005 Wimbledon tournament
for the first time since 1996. Pierce faced Venus
Williams in the quarter-final and lost the match
after a thrilling second set tiebreak consisting
of 22 points. Pierce's return to form in 2005 was
one of the most pleasantly surprising stories in
tennis of the year. Pierce also won the
mixed-doubles title at Wimbledon 2005 along with
Mahesh Bhupathi of India making it her second
doubles slam title and her first successful crack
at the Wimbledon championships as well. On August
7 2005, Pierce won her first hardcourt title at
San Diego defeating Ai Sugiyama of Japan.

==Grand Slam finals==

===Singles Wins (2)===  

 Year     Championship            Opponent in
Final          Score in Final
 1995     Australian Open         Arantxa Sánchez
Vicario    6-3, 6-2
 2000     French Open             Conchita
Martínez          6-2, 7-5

===Singles Runner-ups (3)===  

 Year     Championship            Opponent in
Final          Score in Final
 1994     French Open             Arantxa Sánchez
Vicario    6-4, 6-4
 1997     Australian Open         Martina Hingis  
          6-2, 6-2
 2005     French Open             Justine
Henin-Hardenne     6-1, 6-1

===Doubles Wins (2)===
 
 Year     Championship            Opponent in
Final          Score in Final
 2000     French Open             Pascual/Suarez  
          6-2, 6-4
          (ladies doubles
           w. Martina Hingis)
 2005     Wimbledon              
Hanley/Perebiynis          6-4, 6-2
          (mixed-doubles
           w. Mahesh Bhupathi)


==External links==

*wta|id=160142|name=Mary Pierce
*http://marypierce.8m.com/ Fan site
*http://www.mary-pierce.org  Mark Spruce Site
*http://groups.google.com/group/MaryPierce Mary
Pierce Google group