Jack Alexander Draper is a British professional tennis player born on 22 December 2001 in Sutton, south London, and raised in nearby Ashtead, Surrey. He turned professional in 2018 and has established himself as one of Britain’s leading men’s players, achieving a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4 on 9 June 2025. Known for his powerful game and strong serve, Draper grew up immersed in tennis through his family. His mother, Nicky, is a former British junior champion and coach who introduced him to the sport at a very young age, while his father, Roger, is the former…
Author: Kevin Koech
Cameron Norrie is a British professional tennis player born on 23 August 1995 in Johannesburg, South Africa. His parents, David Norrie from Glasgow, Scotland, and Helen Norrie from Cardiff, Wales, are both microbiologists who were working in South Africa at the time of his birth. When Cameron was around three years old, the family relocated to Auckland, New Zealand, after a traumatic burglary at their home. He grew up there, developing an interest in multiple sports including cricket, rugby, football, and squash before focusing on tennis. He began playing tennis at age six using a squash racquet in the family…
Toby Samuel is a British professional tennis player born on 6 September 2002 in Winchester, Hampshire, and raised in St Leonards, Dorset. He plays right-handed with a two-handed backhand and currently resides in Bath, Somerset, where he trains as part of Team Bath Tennis. He began playing tennis at a young age at local clubs before developing his game at the West Hants Club. He also showed early talent in football as part of AFC Bournemouth’s academy and in swimming as a Dorset county champion in breaststroke. Samuel studied sports management at the University of South Carolina and is a…
Jacob Fearnley is a British professional tennis player born on 15 July 2001 in Worcester, England. At the age of two he moved with his family to Dalkeith, just south of Edinburgh in Scotland, where he grew up and first developed his love of the sport. The right-handed player began hitting balls as a young child in his grandfather’s back garden and on local courts, inspired by his mother and grandfather, both keen tennis enthusiasts. He attended Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh before heading to the United States to study kinesiology and compete in college tennis at Texas Christian University.…
Arthur Fery is a British professional tennis player born on 12 July 2002 in Sèvres, France, near Paris. His parents are both French: father Loïc Féry, a prominent businessman and hedge fund manager who founded the investment firm Chenavari and serves as president of the French football club FC Lorient, and mother Olivia Féry, a former professional tennis player. Olivia competed on the WTA Tour, reached a career-high singles ranking of 225, appeared in the women’s doubles main draw at the 1991 French Open, and later represented Hong Kong in the Fed Cup. Although born in France and holding French…
Billy Harris is a British professional tennis player born on 25 January 1995 in Nottingham, England. He grew up on the Isle of Man after his family moved there when he was young and continues to reside there. Coached primarily by his father Geoff Harris, with additional support at times from others including Colin Beecher and Leon Smith, he turned professional in 2015. Harris trains at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton and is known for a determined, hard-working approach that included years of travelling to lower-level tournaments while living out of a van to cut costs. He is a…
Anna-Lena Grönefeld, also known under the spelling Groenefeld and by her married name Herzgerodt, is a German former professional tennis player born on June 4, 1985, in Nordhorn, Lower Saxony, West Germany. She turned professional in April 2003 and competed until her retirement in December 2019. Grönefeld achieved career-high rankings of world No. 14 in singles and No. 7 in doubles. After hanging up her racket, she has worked as a coach, including serving as Bundestrainerin for Germany’s female under-14 players with the Deutscher Tennis Bund, and has continued playing in the Bundesliga for DTV Hannover. She married tennis coach…
Cara Cavell Black, born on 17 February 1979 in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe), is a former professional tennis player who represented Zimbabwe. The daughter of Donald and Velia Black, she grew up in a tennis-oriented family and turned professional in 1998. Primarily known as a doubles specialist, she stood 5 feet 6 inches tall, played right-handed with a two-handed backhand, and resided at times in London. Black competed until her retirement around 2015 after a career spanning nearly two decades on the WTA Tour. Siblings Cara is the younger sister of two older brothers, Wayne Black and Byron Black,…
Francesca Jones is a British professional tennis player born on 19 September 2000 in Bradford, England. She grew up in Oxenhope, West Yorkshire, before moving to Barcelona at the age of nine to train at the Sanchez-Casal Tennis Academy and later at the Ad-In Tennis Academy. Jones was born with ectrodactyly-ectodermal dysplasia-cleft syndrome (EEC), a rare genetic condition that left her with a thumb and three fingers on each hand and a total of seven toes. She has undergone multiple surgeries related to the condition yet has never viewed it as a barrier to pursuing her ambitions in tennis. Away…
Bernd Karbacher is a German retired professional tennis player born on 3 April 1968 in Munich, West Germany. He played right-handed with a two-handed backhand and resided in Munich throughout much of his life. He turned professional in 1989 and competed on the ATP Tour until his retirement in 2000, amassing career prize money of over US$2 million. Known for his competitive spirit on clay and hard courts, Karbacher achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 22 on 17 April 1995 and a doubles ranking of No. 163. After retiring from playing, he worked as a tour coach, player…
Katarina Srebotnik is a Slovenian former professional tennis player, born on 12 March 1981 in Slovenj Gradec, then part of Yugoslavia and now Slovenia. She turned professional in the late 1990s and competed until her official retirement in 2022, with her last match in 2020. Nicknamed Kata, she resided in Dubai after her career and became one of Slovenia’s most successful athletes, amassing more than eight million dollars in prize money. She is recognized as the country’s highest-earning female athlete of all time based on tournament earnings. Siblings Katarina is the younger of two daughters born to Jože and Zlatka…
Mona Barthel is a professional German tennis player born on 11 July 1990 in Bad Segeberg, West Germany. She turned professional around 2008 and has competed primarily on the WTA Tour and ITF Circuit. Raised in a sports-oriented family, she began playing tennis at the age of three after being introduced to the sport by her relatives and was inspired by fellow German Steffi Graf. Her mother, Hannelore, holds a PhD, while her father, Wolfgang, is a doctor who previously excelled as a European junior shot-put champion. Barthel has cited hard courts as her preferred surface, though she enjoys competing…
Julia Görges is a German former professional tennis player born on 2 November 1988 in Bad Oldesloe, Germany. Known for her powerful serve and aggressive baseline game, she preferred hard and grass courts, with the Australian Open among her favorite events. Growing up, her tennis idol was Martina Hingis, and she was also a fan of Roger Federer. She began playing tennis around the age of five when her parents took her to a local club. Görges turned professional in 2005 and announced her retirement from the sport on 21 October 2020, shortly before her 32nd birthday, after a final…
Andrea Pereira Cejudo is a Spanish professional footballer born on 19 September 1993 in Barcelona, Spain. She has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes since her teenage years, a condition she has managed while maintaining an elite-level career. Outside of football, she holds a degree in Business Administration and Management and has pursued studies in Law. Pereira has represented Spain at youth and senior levels, earning more than 40 senior caps between 2016 and 2022. As of 2026, she competes in Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil with UNAM (Pumas), having previously played for several top Spanish and Mexican clubs. Siblings Andrea…
Rainer Schüttler is a German former professional tennis player born on 25 April 1976 in Korbach, West Germany. He turned professional in 1995 and competed on the ATP Tour until his retirement in 2012. Known for his baseline game, fighting spirit, and strong movement, Schüttler stands 1.80 metres tall and played right-handed with a two-handed backhand. After his playing career, he moved into coaching, tournament organisation, and team leadership roles, including captaining Germany’s Billie Jean King Cup team. He resides primarily in Switzerland with his wife Jovana and their two sons. Siblings Rainer has one sibling, a sister named Marita.…