SHAUGHNESSY, MEGHANN
United States
Born 13 April 1979 in Shenandoah, Virginia
Height: 5' 11" ft 11(1.80 m)
Played: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
[Active 1994-2011]
2004 WTA doubles titlist (with Nadia Petrova) and 2007 US Open Mixed runnerup (with Leander Paes)
Began tennis at age 7. A tomboy, she was also serious about baseball until age 13, when she devoted herself totally to tennis.
With a strong serve (she once had 22 aces in a match) the feisty American hovered around the top 20 for several years. This is borne out by her record in slams. She reached the round of 16 four times. Her lone quarterfinal was in 2003. The lanky American usually lost to thoe inside the top 10, but aming her victims were Monica Seles, Justine Henin, Venus William, and Conchita Martinez.
Strength training helped her rise up up the rankings in the early 2000s. Meghann was known for training extremely hard-often running long distance after matches. Some felt she overtrained. She played far more events than the average player. In 2000 alone she entered 28 events.
I don't interact with many of them. There are a lot of nice people, but it's a difficult atmosphere. If you go all the way to China and someone sends you home in the first round, it's hard to open up to that person. Their win is your loss. Men players are much more together. They can fight and play great and go out, and there's no hard feelings. With the women, there's more emotion and jealousy.-Shaughnessy on the other women on tour
The serve and height contributed to doubles success. Meghann has 17 tour titles to her credit, including the 2004 WTA Year-end title with Nadia Petrova.
A good amount of controversy arose over her relationship with coach Rafael Font de Mora. He mentored Shaughnessy since the age of 13. The pair admitted to being involved since she was 18, but most tour insiders felt the affair had started earlier. In fact they had moved in together when she was 14 against the wished of her parents. This created friction with the USTA and led to a lone outsider persona that Meghann carried throughout her career. Meghann was seeing baseball player Roberto Alomar in 2004-2005. Alomar was HIV positive, supposedly paying out a large settlement to Shaughnessy for not disclosing his disease. In the meantime she ended her realationship with de Mora in 2005, only to reunite in late 2006.
Her last match was in 2011. An official retirement announcement came in 2014.
[from the WTA site]
Personal:
Coached by Rafael Font de Mora ... All-court game with strong serve; favorite surface is hard ... Father, Bill, is a stockbroker; mother, Joy, is a nutritionist; has two brothers, Brennan and Matt, and one sister, Maeve; also has two cats ... Loves water skiing, hiking in beautiful places, yoga and good food ... Has a passion for interior decorating; also loves doing laundry and anything house related ... Likes being a tennis player because of the challenge, but being on road so much makes her really appreciate home ... Favorite actor is Harrison Ford ... Resident Pro at the Scottsdale Hyatt Gainey Ranch Resort.
Awards and Accomplishments:
- Junior highlights include reaching 1996 Roland Garros final (l. to Mauresmo).
Career Highlights:
SINGLES
Winner (6): 2007 - Barcelona; 2006 - Rabat, Forest Hills; 2003 - Canberra; 2001 - Qu‚bec City; 2000 - Shanghai, ITF/West Palm Beach-USA, ITF/Sarasota-USA; 1998 - ITF/Sochi-RUS; 1995 - ITF/Morelia-MEX, ITF/Toluca-MEX, ITF/Sao Paulo 5-BRA.
Finalist (4): 2005 - Memphis; 2002 - Sydney; 2001 - Scottsdale, Hamburg.
Career record: 378–343
Career titles6 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking: #11 (10 September 2001)
WTA Top 100 Year-End Rankings
2007: #53
2006: #37
2005: #66
2004: #40 (#6 in doubles-winning the WTA Championships w/Petrova)
2003: #17 (quarters at the Aussie Open)
2002: #30
2001: #12
2000: #39
1999: #97
1998: #72
DOUBLES
Winner (17): 2011 - Paris [Indoors] (w/Mattek-Sands); 2010 - Warsaw (w/Ruano Pascual); 2007 - Sydney (w/Groenefeld); 2006 - Gold Coast (w/Safina), Acapulco (w/Groenefeld); 2005 - Bali (w/Groenefeld); 2004 - Miami, Amelia Island, Berlin, Rome, Los Angeles, New Haven, Tour Championships (all w/Petrova); 2003 - Moscow (w/Petrova); 2002 - Gold Coast (w/Henin); 2001 - Berlin (w/Callens); 2000 - Qu‚bec City (w/Pratt), ITF/Sarasota-USA (w/Cacic); 1998 - ITF/Guadalajara-MEX (w/Lee-Waters).
Finalist (16): 2011 - Indian Wells, Charleston (both w/Mattek-Sands); 2010 - Memphis, New Haven (both w/Mattek-Sands); 2006 - Indian Wells, Charleston (both w/Ruano Pascual), San Diego (w/Groenefeld); 2005 - Indian Wells (w/Petrova); 2004 - Sydney (w/Safina); 2002 - Filderstadt (w/Su rez); 2001 - Gold Coast (w/Schlukebir), Scottsdale (w/Clijsters), Filderstadt (w/Henin); 2000 - Shanghai (w/Grande); 1999 - Bol (w/Ehritt-Vanc), Antwerp (w/Pleming).
Career record: 315-185
Career titles: 17 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking: #4 (21 March 2005)
MIXED DOUBLES
Finalist (1): 2007 - US Open (w/Paes).
Photo from 2005 in Berlin
Meghann Shaughnessy - Wikipedia
STRINGS ATTACHED
OMG what happened between Meghann Shaughnessy and Rafael...
Meghann Shaughnessy sues Mary Pierce's ex over...
When did Meghann marry Rafael Font de Mora?
[Thanks to Rollo for this information]
