Melanie South

Personal life

Melanie South's mother is called Sheila and her father, John, used to play professional football for Fulham (1964–66) and Brentford (1966–67). John is now a tennis coach at New Malden tennis club and Sheila was a short tennis coach. She has two brothers, Andrew and Stephen, who both used to play tennis recreationally. She began playing tennis herself at the age of 6 years old.

South enjoys shopping, spending time with her friends, seeing films at the cinema, swimming and listening to music. Before a match she likes to listen to either Christina Aguilera or her brother Stephen's band, the Kicking Pills.

She attended Nonsuch High School in Cheam, South London where she gained 7 GCSEs (one A* grade, four As and two Bs) and two A grades in A-level Psychology and PE as well as a grade C in A-level General Studies. She is currently furthering her education by taking an Open University course in Understanding Health which she hopes will lead onto another course in psychology.

Playing style

South's style of gameplay centred around her powerful serve and her aggressive ground strokes. She regularly served aces and got many more free points from other serves which could not be returned, which made her a difficult player to break when she played at her best. However, because her serve was so high-risk, at times she served a large number of double faults and when a couple of these come in the same game it puts her at a sizeable disadvantage. In her first round match at Wimbledon 2008 against Alona Bondarenko she served a total of ten aces, seven double faults and won 68% of the points behind her first serve. She also hit 45 winners and 48 unforced errors during this match, a statistic which demonstrates her aggressive, high-risk attitude to tennis. Renowned tennis coach Nick Bollettieri saw South play during her first round match against his charge, Michelle Larcher de Brito, at the 2008 French Open and commented: "She can serve well and has good ground strokes. She moves well for a big girl but you can see that lateral movement is a problem for her. Whenever she's pushed out wide she can struggle."

Junior (1999–2004)

South debuted on the ITF junior circuit in June 1999. She saw very little in the way of singles success until July 2002 when she reached her first tournament quarterfinal at The Scottish Junior Championships. Six months later she won the 17th Salik Open (her only singles title at junior level) and then reached the semifinals of her next tournament before losing to Anna Chakvetadze. Following this she reached the quarterfinals of her next two tournaments. She competed in the Wimbledon girls' tournament only twice and lost in the first round each time. In singles, her career-high ranking was world number 266 and her win–loss record was 15–8.

As a junior doubles player she won one title (the Scottish Junior International Championships) as well as losing in the final of two others (the Västerås International Junior Championships and the LTA Junior International Tournament Wrexham). In 2004, she reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon girls' doubles partnering Katie O'Brien. Her career win-loss record in doubles was 7–7 and her highest ranking was world number 335.

2001–2003

Her first professional match (and only match that year) came in October 2001; a match which she lost in straight sets to Natalia Egorova from Russia.

In 2002, in only her second match at adult level, she received a wild card into the qualifying draw at Wimbledon and lost to Adriana Barna. South spent the rest of 2002 playing in ITF tournaments in Great Britain, not getting past the second round in any of them. She finished 2002 with her world ranking at number 931.

During 2003, she played a total of 10 matches (again all ITF) and won four of them. She again failed to progress further than the second round of any of these tournaments and at the end of the 2003 season she had a world ranking of number 851.

2004

2004 began well for South; in her first four tournaments of the year, she managed to reach the quarterfinals, second round, quarterfinal and semifinal respectively before going on to win her fifth tournament of the year. In her sixth tournament she lost in the first round before reaching the final of the next, losing to Elke Clijsters (sister of former world number 1 Kim Clijsters) in three sets. Later that month she reached the semifinals of the $10,000 event in Antalya, Turkey. In June she played her first match on the WTA tour, when she received a wild card into the tier III DFS Classic in Birmingham. She lost in the first round of the qualifying tournament to Maria Kirilenko. She immediately received another wild card into the qualifying draw of Wimbledon, but lost in straight sets to Bethanie Mattek in the first round. After Wimbledon, she played three more ITF tournaments and reached the quarterfinals of two of them. At the end of 2004 her world ranking was number 453.

2005

In January 2005 she played the $10,000 ITF event in Tipton where she reached the quarterfinals, losing to Katie O'Brien. In April she won the second ITF tournament of her career, beating top-seed Anne Keothavong in the final. Between winning this and losing in the first round of qualifying for Wimbledon for the third year running she reached the final of one more ITF tournament and the semifinal stage of another. After Wimbledon she played nine more ITF events, reaching the semifinal stage in two of them. Her ranking was world number 449 at the end of 2005.

2006

In the first half of 2006 she won the third ITF tournament of her career in Hull and reached the semifinals of another ITF, this one in Tenerife, as a qualifier before losing to Andrea Hlaváčková. In the run-up to Wimbledon 2006, South played two WTA tournaments courtesy of wild cards. She lost in the first round of the DFS Classic in Birmingham (tier III) to fellow wild card Sarah Borwell in three sets, and also lost in the first round of qualifying for the tier II tournament in Eastbourne. In June, South played for the first time in the Wimbledon main draw as a wild card and reached the second round by beating number 11 seed Francesca Schiavone in the first round. She lost to Shenay Perry in the second round. South's win over world number 14 Schiavone was a career-first top-20 victory, and the best win in terms of ranking for a British player since Sam Smith beat number 7 Conchita Martínez at Wimbledon in 1998. After Wimbledon, South won another ITF tournament, reached three semifinals and two more quarterfinals. She participated in the qualifying tournament for the US Open in September but did not progress further than the first round. Her year-end ranking was world number 176.

2007

2007 started slowly for South, with a loss in the first round of qualifying for the tier IV tournament in Auckland, New Zealand to Sara Errani (a later top-40 player) and a loss in the first round of the qualifying tournament for the Australian Open to Timea Bacsinszky (a future top-50 player). South reached the quarterfinals of another ITF tournament in May before losing to Casey Dellacqua. In June she lost in the first round of qualifying for the French Open, reached the quarterfinals of another ITF (Surbiton), lost in the second round of the qualifying tournament for the DFS Classic and reached the second round of the tier II tournament in Eastbourne, beating Alicia Molik in the first round before losing to Marion Bartoli in the second. Immediately after this came another appearance in the main draw of Wimbledon where she played Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama but lost. The rest of South's 2007 season saw her reach three more ITF semifinals and four ITF quarterfinals. She failed to qualify for the US Open for the second year in a row. Her year-end world ranking fell to number 214 in 2007.

2008

South started her 2008 season by attempting to qualify for the tier IV tournament in Auckland. She reached the final round of qualifying before falling to compatriot, Elena Baltacha. She then went on to lose to Thai veteran, Tamarine Tanasugarn, in the first round of qualifying for the Australian Open. Following this she reached the semifinals in the $75,000 ITF in Midland, before being demolished by Ashley Harkleroad. March was a good month for South; she reached the final round of qualifying for the Bangalore Open before becoming a quarterfinalist in the $25,000 ITF in Kalgoorlie, winning the title in another $25,000 ITF in Sorrento and then reaching the quarterfinals in the $50,000 ITF in Patras. Her next noteworthy results came in late April and early May when she reached the semifinals in two back-to-back $50,000 events in Japan. She was beaten in the first round of qualifying for the French Open by fellow Brit, Katie O'Brien. Her grass court season began with her best result to date in a WTA tournament by reaching the quarterfinals of the DFS Classic, a tier III event. She defeated fellow British wild card, Anna Fitzpatrick, in round one before beating number 4 seed, Sybille Bammer, in the second round. In the third round she came up against 17th seed, Aiko Nakamura, and won in three sets. Unseeded Yanina Wickmayer beat South in the quarterfinals. Following this, she received another wild card into the International Women's Open where she lost in the first round to Alisa Kleybanova. She entered the main draw of the Wimbledon Championships courtesy of another wild card and gave number 28 seed, Alona Bondarenko, a battle in round one. South was eventually defeated in three sets.

After Wimbledon, South attempted to qualify for the tier II tournament in Los Angeles but fell in the final round of qualifying. However number 2 seed, Serena Williams, withdrew from the tournament before her first round match resulting in South getting into the main draw as a lucky loser. As Serena was the number 2 seed, South received her bye into the second round where she capitalised on this good opportunity by beating Petra Kvitová to reach round three. Yuan Meng from China beat South in the third round. She followed this up by qualifying for the Rogers Cup where number 10 seed, Marion Bartoli, beat her in round one. In August she reached the final round of qualifying for the US Open where she was beaten by China's Zhang Shuai. In October and November, South reached four consecutive $25,000 ITF tournaments in Traralgon, Mount Gambier, Port Pirie and Pune. She lost to Jarmila Gajdošová, Natalie Grandin, beat Yurika Sema and then lost to Lu Jingjing respectively. She finished the year with a run to the quarterfinals of the $75,000 ITF in Toyota, giving her a year-end ranking of world number 116.

2009

In early January, South attempted to qualify for the Brisbane International, a WTA International event. A disappointing performance saw her lose to Ekaterina Bychkova. She followed this up by entering the qualifying draw for the Medibank International Sydney, a Premier event held in Sydney, Australia. South defeated Akgul Amanmuradova, Kristina Barrois and Meng Yuan to qualify for the tournament. South qualified for the main draw of the 2009 Australian Open when Maria Sharapova withdrew because of injury. Because Anne Keothavong had already qualified for the main draw, it was the first time since Jo Durie and Clare Wood in the 1993 US Open, that two British women had gained direct entry into a Grand Slam. South made it the second round at Brisbane after Marion Bartoli retired due to a left calf strain at 1–1 in the first set. She was defeated in the second round by number 2 seed, Caroline Wozniacki, in straight sets. In the first round of the Australian Open, South fell to Bartoli in straight sets. South broke into the top 100 for the first time on 2 February 2009, achieving a career-high ranking of 99. This marked the first time in nearly 16 years that two British women had been inside the top 100, following Durie and Monique Javer in March 1993.

South spent the week following the Australian Open in Estonia playing in the 2009 Fed Cup alongside compatriots Anne Keothavong, Elena Baltacha and doubles specialist Sarah Borwell. Great Britain was drawn into the same group as Hungary, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Against Hungary, South and Borwell teamed up to face Katalin Marosi and Ágnes Szávay, and defeated them in straight sets, thus contributing to Britain's 3–0 victory over Hungary. She was not required to participate when Britain defeated the Netherlands, 3–0, but played in both the doubles and singles in the third and final tie against Luxembourg. She beat Fabienne Thill, and followed this victory up with another in doubles, beating Mandy Minella and Thill with partner Sarah Borwell. This gave Britain a 9–0 record in their group, making them the group A winner and giving them the opportunity to play another group winner for a chance to participate in the World Group II play-offs. However, Britain lost 2–1 to Poland in the playoffs. Following this, South gained direct entry into the International tournament, the Cellular South Cup on the merit of her own ranking but was beaten by the third seed, Lucie Šafářová, in round one.

She then briefly returned to the ITF tour to participate in the $50,000 event in Clearwater where she was the number 3 seed but was beaten in round one by Japanese Aiko Nakamura. Her next tournament was the first Premier mandatory tournament of the WTA calendar, the BNP Paribas Open, where she competed in qualifying but was defeated by Varvara Lepchenko, in round one. She then immediately went to her next Premier mandatory tournament of the calendar, the Sony Ericsson Open, where she also lost in the qualifying stages.

Her next breakthrough came at the $50,000 ITF event in Nottingham where she reached the quarter finals before falling to Stefanie Vögele in three sets. She followed this up with a victory on the WTA Tour at the 2009 Aegon Classic over fellow Brit Katie O'Brien before falling to 1st seed Zheng Jie. She then lost in qualifying at Eastbourne and in the first round of Wimbledon to Vera Dushevina and Mathilde Johansson respectively. She had little success on the ITF circuit until a Glasgow $25,000 event where she reached the final as the second seed. In the final she fell to Johanna Larsson of Sweden in three sets.

She ended the year with a singles record of 20–21 and a year-end ranking of 160.

In doubles, South captured two titles in Helsinki and Glasgow partnering Emma Laine for both titles. She also achieved a first round win over Alona Bondarenko and Kateryna Bondarenko at Wimbledon, alongside fellow Briton Jocelyn Rae. She ended the year with a doubles record of 12–5.