Winners: Carling Bassett-Seguso, Tennis

1983 - Feature Story

Tennis great Chris Evert Lloyd had never lost a set on her home court when she met 15-year-old Carling Bassett-Seguso of Toronto in the final of the 1983 Lipton WTA championship in Florida. Lloyd, ranked second in the world, won the event but took two hours, 18 minutes to defeat the teen 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. Bassett-Seguso had turned pro in January 1983 after an outstanding 1982 campaign that saw her win the Canadian title at age 14, and the prestigious Orange Bowl tournament to end the year as the number two -ranked Under-18 player in the world. Bassett began 1983 ranked number 99 in the world but the runner-up finish to Lloyd boosted her to 34th in the ranks. By mid-summer she was at number 22 after reaching the round of 16 at Wimbledon and winning another Canadian title. She ended the year at number 19, prompting the Women’s Tennis Association to name her Most Impressive Newcomer for 1983.

1985 - Feature Story

Bassett-Seguso saw her world rank rise to as high as number eight in 1985. Two years after nearly upsetting venerable Chris Evert Lloyd, Bassett joined with the veteran star to beat Billie Jean King and Rosie Casals in the first round of an event in Amelia Island, Florida, 6-7, 6-2, 6-1.  She also teamed with Argentine teen Gabriela Sabatini to take the Florida Federal Tennis Open doubles title.

Career Highlights

• 1985 Ranked eighth on the world pro tour, the highest ranking for a Canadian
• 1984, 1986 Reached the quarterfinals at the French Open
• 1984 Semi-finalist at the U.S. Open
• 1983, 1985 Bobbie Rosenfeld Award (Canada’s female athlete of the year)
• 1982-1986 Top-ranked tennis player in Canada