Anne White


Anne White is an American former professional tennis player from Charleston, West Virginia. She is most famous for wearing a white body suit at Wimbledon in 1985.

Early life

White attended John Adams Junior High School. She then graduated from George Washington High School in Charleston, West Virginia, and went on to become a two-time All-American tennis player at the University of Southern California.

Family background

Anne's father, Pete White, played basketball for Clendenin High School.

1985 Wimbledon Championships

White, who was playing fifth seed Pam Shriver in the first round at Wimbledon in 1985 on an outer court, warmed up in a tracksuit. When she took the tracksuit off to start play, she revealed that she was wearing a white, one-piece, lycra body suit, which attracted a lot of attention from the crowd and the photographers. With the match tied at one set all, play was stopped for the day because of bad light, and the umpire, Alan Mills, told her to wear more appropriate clothing the next day. She did so, and lost the third set, but the incident was widely reported. She was later quoted as saying, "I had no idea it would be so controversial."

Results

White won her only singles title at Phoenix, Arizona, on March 9, 1987, beating the top seeded Dianne Balestrat in the final. She reached the semifinals of the women's doubles in the 1984 U.S. Open and in 1985 in the French Open.

Career earnings and prize money

White claims that her career earnings are more than a million dollars. According to official WTA records, her career prize money is $411,022 ranking her at 605th all time as of 8/1/2016.

Career finals

Singles (1 title, 1 runner up)

OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Runner-up1.17 June 1984Edgbaston Cup, United KingdomGrass Pam Shriver6–7, 3–6
Winner2.9 March 1987Virginia Slims of Arizona, United StatesHard Dianne Balestrat6–2, 6–1

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

NH = tournament not held.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.