Helena Suková

Suková (right) with Jo Durie, Ladies' Doubles senior final, Wimbledon 2004

Helena Suková (b. February 23 1965 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. During her career, she won 14 Grand Slam titles, 9 of them in women's doubles and 5 of them in mixed doubles. She also was a four-time Grand Slam singles runner-up.

Suková comes from a prominent Czech tennis family. Her mother, Věra Pužejová Suková, was a women's singles finalist at Wimbledon in 1962. Her father, Cyril Suk II, was president of the Czechoslovakian Tennis Federation. Her brother, Cyril Suk III, is a professional player on the men's tour who teamed with Suková to win three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, at the French Open in 1991 and at Wimbledon in 1996 and 1997.

Suková turned professional in 1981. Her career-high world rankings were fourth in singles and first in women's doubles.

Suková was a singles runner-up at the Australian Open twice (in 1984 and 1989) and at the U.S. Open twice (in 1986 and 1993). Sukova's most memorable Grand Slam singles win was against Martina Navratilova in a semifinal of the 1984 Australian Open, where she ended Navratilova's 74-match winning streak and her chance at winning a calendar year Grand Slam.

Suková was a particularly outstanding doubles player. She had a career Grand Slam in women's doubles, winning four titles at Wimbledon, two at the U.S. Open, one at the Australian Open, and one at the French Open. She won three mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon, one at the U.S. Open, and one at the French Open. She also was a women's doubles silver medalist at the Olympic Games in 1988 and 1996 (both times partnering Jana Novotná).

Suková helped Czechoslovakia win the Fed Cup four times, in 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1988. She also teamed with Miloslav Mečíř to win the inaugural Hopman Cup for Czechoslovakia in 1989.

Over the course of her career, Suková won 10 singles titles and 73 doubles titles.

Despite retiring from the professional tour in 1998, she was given a wild card into the 2006 Wimbledon mixed doubles tournament with her brother Cyril Suk. They lost their first round match.

Grand Slam record

• Australian Open
  • Singles finalist: 1984, 1989
  • Women's Doubles champion: 1990 (with Jana Novotna), 1992 (with Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario)
  • Women's Doubles finalist (both with Claudia Kohde-Kilsch): 1984, 1985
  • Mixed Doubles finalist: 1994 (with Todd Woodbridge), 1998 (with Cyril Suk)

• French Open
  • Women's Doubles champion (with Novotna): 1990
  • Women's Doubles finalist (both with Kohde-Kilsch): 1985, 1988
  • Mixed Doubles champion (with Suk): 1991

• Wimbledon
  • Women's Doubles champion: 1987 (with Kohde-Kilsch), 1989 (with Novotna), 1990 (with Novotna), 1996 (with Martina Hingis)
  • Mixed Doubles champion: 1994 (with Woodbridge), 1996 (with Suk), 1997 (with Suk)

• U.S. Open
  • Singles finalist: 1986, 1993
  • Women's Doubles champion: 1985 (with Kohde-Kilsch), 1993 (with Sanchez-Vicario)
  • Women's Doubles finalist: 1990 (with Novotna)
  • Mixed Doubles champion: 1993 (with Woodbridge)
  • Mixed Doubles finalist: 1992 (with Tom Nijssen)

Grand Slam singles finals

Runner-ups (4)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1984	Australian Open	Chris Evert	6-7, 6-1, 6-3
1986	U.S. Open	Martina Navratilova	6-3, 6-2
1989	Australian Open (2)	Steffi Graf	6-4, 6-4
1993	U.S. Open (2)	Steffi Graf	6-3, 6-3

Grand Slam women's doubles finals

Wins (9)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1985	U.S. Open	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6-7, 6-2, 6-3
1987	Wimbledon	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Betsy Nagelsen Elizabeth Smylie	7-5, 7-5
1989	Wimbledon (2)	Jana Novotná	Larisa Neiland Natalia Zvereva	6-1, 6-2
1990	Australian Open	Jana Novotná	Patty Fendick Mary Joe Fernandez	7-6, 7-6
1990	French Open	Jana Novotná	Larisa Neiland Natalia Zvereva	6-4, 7-5
1990	Wimbledon (3)	Jana Novotná	Larisa Neiland Natalia Zvereva	6-4, 6-0
1993	Australian Open (2)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Mary Joe Fernandez Zina Garrison	6-4, 7-6
1993	U.S. Open (2)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Amanda Coetzer Ines Gorrochategui	6-4, 6-2
1996	Wimbledon (4)	Martina Hingis	Meredith McGrath Larisa Neiland	5-7, 7-5, 6-1

Runner-ups (5)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1984	Australian Open	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6-3, 6-4
1985	Australian Open (2)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6-3, 6-4
1985	French Open	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	4-6, 6-2, 6-2
1988	French Open (2)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6-2, 7-5
1990	U.S. Open	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernandez Martina Navratilova	6-2, 6-4

Grand Slam mixed doubles finals

Wins (5)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1991	French Open	Cyril Suk	Paul Haarhuis Caroline Vis	3-6, 6-4, 6-1
1993	U.S. Open	Todd Woodbridge	Martina Navratilova Mark Woodforde	6-3, 7-6
1994	Wimbledon	Todd Woodbridge	T.J. Middleton Lori McNeil	3-6, 7-5, 6-3
1996	Wimbledon (2)	Cyril Suk	Larisa Neiland Mark Woodforde	1-6, 6-3, 6-2
1997	Wimbledon (3)	Cyril Suk	Andrei Olhovskiy Larisa Neiland	4-6, 6-3, 6-4

Runner-ups (3)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1992	U.S. Open	Tom Nijssen	Nicole Provis Mark Woodforde	4-6, 6-3, 6-3
1994	Australian Open	Todd Woodbridge	Andrei Olhovskiy Larisa Neiland	7-5, 6-7, 6-2
1998	Australian Open (2)	Cyril Suk	Justin Gimelstob Venus Williams	6-2, 6-1

Grand Slam singles performance 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.

References

External links

• Official Website of Helena Suková
• Helena Suková profile on the WTA Tour's official website
• Fed Cup profile for Helena Suková

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