Corina Morariu

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Corina Morariu bigraphy, stories - Tennis player

Corina Morariu : biography

January 26, 1978 –

Corina Morariu (born January 26, 1978 in Detroit, Michigan) is a retired American professional tennis player of Romanian heritage.

Morariu (pronounced: mo-RA-R’ju) turned professional in 1994. Mainly known as a doubles specialist, she won the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon in 1999 with Lindsay Davenport. She also won the mixed doubles title at the 2001 Australian Open with Ellis Ferreira. She reached the Australian Open women’s doubles final with Davenport in 2005. She also reached the world No. 1 ranking in doubles in 2000.

In 2001, Morariu was diagnosed with leukemia and began a program of chemotherapy. During this time, Jennifer Capriati dedicated her 2001 French Open victory to Morariu. She also received an inspirational letter from Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor. After recovering from cancer, along with shoulder surgery, Morariu was largely restricted to doubles play. The WTA then created the Corina Comeback Award, which was presented to Morariu by Capriati.

Morariu retired from the tour in 2007. She is an International Sports Ambassador for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and has released a memoir titled Living Through the Racket: How I Survived Leukemia…and Rediscovered My Self. Following her retirement, she began working as a commentator for Tennis Channel.

Women’s doubles performance timeline

Tournament 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 SR W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A 2R 2R 2R SF F A A 3R F 1R 1R 0 / 9 19–9
French Open A 1R 1R 3R 2R A A A 1R A SF A 1R 0 / 7 7–7
Wimbledon A 1R 2R 2R W A A A 1R A 2R A 1R 1 / 7 9–6
US Open A 3R 1R 1R QF A A QF 1R 2R QF 2R QF 0 / 10 16–10
Win–Loss 0–0 2–3 2–4 4–4 11–3 4–1 5–1 3–1 0–3 3–2 13–4 1–2 3–4 1 / 33 51–32
Year-End Championship
Tour Championships A A A A SF A A A A A A A A 0 / 1 1–1
Year-End Ranking
Ranking 187 81 66 49 6 14 57 78 156 24 15 34 76

Awards

Corina Morariu hitting a forehand.

  • The Corina Comeback Award (established by the WTA and named after her; she was the first recipient)
  • The 2002 WTA Tour Comeback Player of the Year Award

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 3 (1–2)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponent in final Score in final
Winner 1999 Wimbledon Grass USA}} Lindsay Davenport RSA}} Mariaan de Swardt Elena Tatarkova 6–4, 6–4
Runner-up 2001 Australian Open Hard USA}} Lindsay Davenport USA}} Serena Williams Venus Williams 6–2, 2–6, 6–4
Runner-up 2005 Australian Open Hard USA}} Lindsay Davenport RUS}} Svetlana Kuznetsova Alicia Molik 6–3, 6–4