Beth Herr

Beth Herr (born 28 May 1964) is an American tennis player from Centerville, Ohio, who won four Junior Grand Slam titles, the NCAA singles and team titles and one professional tennis tournament. In her home state of Ohio, she was a two-time high school singles state champion (1980-1981). Her NCAA singles title came in 1983.

College

Herr became the number-one junior tennis player in the world at the age of 16. Upon graduation from Centerville High School, she was the No. 1 college recruit in 1982 and played for the University of Southern California, where she won the NCAA singles title and team title in her first year. She beat Clemson University's Gigi Fernández in the third-set tiebreak, having faced a match point, to win the NCAA singles final.

Junior Grand Slam titles

In 1982, Herr won the 1982 French Open girls' doubles championship with Janet Lagasse, Herr also won the Wimbledon girls' doubles and US Open girls' doubles with Penny Barg and won the US Open girls' singles in the same year.

Professional career

Herr cut short college and went directly into professional tennis after the NCAA Championship, and played on tour for 11 years, with wins over Pam Shriver, Hana Mandlíková, Martina Navratilova, Virginia Wade, and Mary Joe Fernández. In 1983, she lost a second-round singles match to Billie Jean King at Wimbledon, 6–8 in the third set. Commentators on HBO mentioned her ability to hit numerous swinging volleys for winners, something for which no female had previously been noted.

WTA career finals

Legend
Grand Slam	0–0	0–0
Tier I	0–0	0–0
Tier II	0–0	0–0
Tier III	0–0	2–0
Tier IV & V	1–0	0–3

Singles: 1–0

Result	W-L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Mar 1986	Phoenix, US	Clay	Template:Flagicon Ann Henricksson	6–0, 3–6, 7–5

Doubles: 5–2

Result	W-L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Aug 1983	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Template:Flagicon Gigi Fernández	Template:Flagicon Kathleen Horvath Template:Flagicon Virginia Ruzici	5–7, 4–6
Loss	0–2	Oct 1985	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Template:Flagicon Laura Arraya	Template:Flagicon Belinda Cordwell Template:Flagicon Julie Richardson	4–6, 4–6
Win	1–2	Jul 1986	Berkeley, U.S.	Hard	Template:Flagicon Alycia Moulton	Template:Flagicon Amy Holton Template:Flagicon Elna Reinach	6–1, 6–2
Win	2–2	Jul 1986	San Diego, U.S.	Hard	Template:Flagicon Alycia Moulton	Template:Flagicon Elise Burgin Template:Flagicon Rosalyn Fairbank	5–7, 6–2, 6–4
Win	3–2	Mar 1987	Phoenix, U.S.	Hard	Template:Flagicon Penny Barg	Template:Flagicon Mary-Lou Piatek Template:Flagicon Anne White	2–6, 6–2, 7–6(7–2)
Win	4–2	Aug 1988	Cincinnati, US	Hard	Template:Flagicon Candy Reynolds	Template:Flagicon Lindsay Bartlett Template:Flagicon Helen Kelesi	4–6, 7–6, 6–1
Win	5–2	Oct 1988	New Orleans, US	Hard	Template:Flagicon Candy Reynolds	Template:Flagicon Lori McNeil Template:Flagicon Betsy Nagelsen	6–4, 6–4

Paddle tennis

Beth was the winningest player in paddle tennis history winning virtually every event she ever played including the US Open and World Championships of paddle tennis With teammate, Scotty Freedman to become the greatest mixed-doubles team in the sports' history, as they were undefeated as a team from 2000 to 2007.

Pickleball

In her 2022 season, Beth finished #1 in singles, gender doubles and mixed doubles and won a gold medal in all 27 events that she played.

Personal life

After tennis, she finished her undergraduate degree at UCLA and then went to law school at UCLA. She married Tennis Channel founder Steve Bellamy and after a short stint as a lawyer at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips.

External links

• Template:WTA
• Template:ITF profile