| Anke Huber |
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Huber started to play tennis at the age of seven, after being introduced to the game by her father, Edgar. In junior competition, she won the Under-12 German Championships in 1986 , the Under-14s in 1987 , the Under-16s in 1988 , and the European Championships in 1989 . She was also a semi-finalist at Wimbledon's junior tournament in 1990 , a feat that helped her gain an end-of-year ranking of 203rd. Huber made her Grand-slam debut in the 1990 Australian Open . After defeating Maider Leval and Elise Burgin, she was knocked out in the third round by Raffaella Reggi . Huber's rookie season was a largely successful one. In August, she defeated Marianne Werderl to win the Schenectady tournament, a warm-up for the US Open . Jennifer Capriati halted her involvement in the latter tournament at the first stage. Huber was a losing finalist in her next competition, in Bayonne - Nathalie Tauziat coming out on top in three sets. She had climbed 169 places to 34th in the year-end ranking. Huber became Germany's top female tennis player upon Steffi Graf 's retirement in 1999 . Only two years later, however, it was Huber's turn to hang up her racquet - a persistent ankle injury and a desire for a "normal life" cited as the reasons for her decision. It brought to an end a twelve-year professional career, during which she reached 23 singles finals (twelve of which she was victorious in - see below), 29 semi-finals, and 50 quarter-finals. Her career record was 418-213. She amassed $4,768,292 in prize money during her career. Although she didn't achieve a grand-slam win, Huber can feel proud of her accomplishments, especially whilst having to walk in Steffi Graf's footsteps. "I recognised pretty early on that I would never have her success, but I was still always measured against her," she says. "So, whenever I got into the quarter-finals or the semis of a Grand Slam tournament, it counted for nothing. "Sometimes it was good to have her, because she drew the attention away from me," Huber continued. "On the other side, there was always the pressure to be the second Steffi Graf." At the end of 1996, Huber had peaked at 4th position in the world rankings; five years later, at the age of 26, she herself decided to call it a day. Originally, she planned to quit after the Australian Open, her favourite tournament, in January 2002 , but changed her mind when she unexpectedly qualified for the German Masters. "I thought there's nothing better than to celebrate saying goodbye in front of the home fans in your own country," said the German. Huber's final match took place on October 31 , 2001 , against Justine Henin, in which she lost in straight sets. In 2002, Huber accepted a role with the German Tennis Federation and became the co-tournament director for the annual WTA Filderstadt tour event. TITLES (13) Singles (12) Singles Finalist (11)
Doubles (1)
Huber also represented her country at three levels: the Olympic Games , in Barcelona 1992 , Atlanta 1996 , and Sydney 2000 ; the Federation Cup , which, in 1995 , she won with Boris Becker ; and the Hopman Cup from 1990 to 1998 (she helped Germany to win the tournament in 1992 by beating Spain 's Conchita Martinez in their final). TRIVIA
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