Nicole Gibbs (born March 3, 1993) is an American former professional tennis player.

Nicole Gibbs
Country (sports) United States
Born (1993-03-03) March 3, 1993 (age 31)
Cincinnati, United States
Height5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Turned pro2013
RetiredFeb 2021
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
CollegeStanford University
CoachPaul Gibbs
Prize money$1,839,720
Singles
Career record303–221 (57.8%)
Career titles7 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 68 (25 July 2016)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open3R (2017)
French Open1R (2015, 2016)
Wimbledon1R (2015, 2016)
US Open3R (2014)
Doubles
Career record62–70 (47.0%)
Career titles5 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 107 (19 September 2016)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R (2017)
French Open1R (2016)
Wimbledon1R (2016)
US Open3R (2016)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
US OpenQF (2016)

She won seven singles and five doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 25 July 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 68. On 19 September 2016, she peaked at No. 107 in the WTA doubles rankings.

Gibbs graduated in 2010 from Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California, and from Stanford University in 2014.

Career edit

College edit

Gibbs was the top player in both singles and doubles for the Stanford women's team.

As a collegiate sophomore, Gibbs was named 2012 recipient of the Honda Sports Award for tennis.[1] Her selection by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program recognized Gibbs as the country's top junior female player in her sport.[2]

A 2012 All-American in both singles and doubles, Gibbs, as a sophomore, pulled off a historic sweep of the year's NCAA singles and doubles titles. Gibbs joined Stanford's Linda Gates (1985) and UCLA's Keri Phebus (1995) as only the third player in NCAA history to capture both NCAA titles in the same season. Gibbs then repeated as NCAA singles champion the following year, before foregoing her senior year.[3] Traditionally, the winner of the NCAA title is offered a wild card into the US Open, if American.

Gibbs defeated teammate Mallory Burdette in the first all-Stanford singles final since 2011, claiming the 15th collegiate singles crown (13 NCAA, 2 AIAW) in school history. One hour later, Gibbs and Burdette shook off physical and emotional fatigue to claim the doubles championship with victory over Georgia's Nadja Gilchrist and Chelsey Gullickson.

The championship matches represented a historic day for the Stanford women's tennis program. It was the first time in NCAA men's or women's tennis history that teammates squared off in the singles final before later pairing up in the doubles title match.

The 2012 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Gibbs was also named an All-Pac-12 First Team selection. She finished the year 41–5 overall and 21–2 in duals while playing all her matches at the number one spot. Closing out the year on a 17-match winning streak, Gibbs pocketed two other singles titles along the way, winning the ITA Northwest Regional Championships in October and Pac-12 Championships in April. Gibbs was ousted from the Mercury Insurance Open, where she lost to Varvara Lepchenko.[4]

Gibbs was inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.[5]

The Honda Sports Award is presented annually to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports. As a Honda prize recipient, Gibbs becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious Honda Cup. Gibbs was chosen by a vote of coaches from 1,000 NCAA member schools. Finalists included Burdette (Stanford), Beatrice Capra (Duke) and Allie Will (Florida).

Professional edit

Gibbs has played in a number of WTA Premier qualifiers, the 2009 LA Open and the 2010 and 2011 Stanford Open qualifiers, where she won a round each year, the 2012 Western & Southern Open losing in the first round, and the 2012 New Haven Open at Yale where she won three rounds to qualify, and then won a round in the main draw before losing in the second to Petra Kvitová. She has also played in qualifying for the US Open on three occasions (2009, 2010, 2011), winning a round in 2010.

In addition to qualifying for the main draw in New Haven, Gibbs played in the three Premier event main draws in 2012, the Stanford Classic, winning one round before losing to newly crowned Wimbledon champion Serena Williams,[6] and the US Open where she lost in the first round to Alizé Cornet.

Gibbs played the 2010 US Open – Mixed doubles with Sam Querrey as her partner and the 2011 US Open – Women's doubles with Lauren Davis. She was a hitting partner as part of the 2009 United States Fed Cup team in Italy.

Gibbs won her first Grand Slam main-draw matches at the 2014 US Open. She upset 23rd seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round,[7] before falling to another seed, Flavia Pennetta, in the third round. Gibbs won her first Australia Open main-draw match in 2015, reaching the second round.

In 2015, she played for the Austin Aces World TeamTennis (WTT) team. Gibbs remained with the team in 2016, when it relocated and was renamed the Orange County Breakers.[8] She was named WTT Female Most Valuable Player after tying for first in the league with teammate Alla Kudryavtseva in winning percentage in women's doubles and also finishing second in women's singles.[9][10]

In May 2019, after a routine dental visit, Gibbs' dentist noticed a small growth on the roof of her mouth, which later turned out to be microcystic adnexal carcinoma, a very rare form of sweat gland cancer. She later became cancer–free and resumed playing tennis.[11][12] On February 15, 2021, Gibbs announced on social media that she would be retiring from professional tennis.[13][14]

Grand Slam performance timelines edit

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles edit

Tournament 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 SR W–L
Australian Open A A A A Q2 Q2 2R 2R 3R 2R A Q2 0 / 4 5–4
French Open A A A A A Q1 1R 1R Q3 Q2 A A 0 / 2 0–2
Wimbledon A A A A Q1 Q3 1R 1R A Q3 A A 0 / 2 0–2
US Open Q1 Q2 Q1 1R 1R 3R 2R 2R 2R 1R 1R A 0 / 8 5–8
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–1 2–1 2–4 2–4 3–2 1–2 0–1 0–0 0 / 16 10–16

Doubles edit

Tournament 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 SR W–L
Australian Open A A A A A A 1R A A A 0 / 1 0–1
French Open A A A A A 1R A A A A 0 / 1 0–1
Wimbledon A A A A A 1R A A A A 0 / 1 0–1
US Open 1R A A 1R 2R 3R 2R 2R A A 0 / 6 5–6
Win–loss 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–1 1–1 2–3 1–2 1–1 0–0 0–0 0 / 9 5–9

WTA 125 finals edit

Singles: 1 (runner-up) edit

Result W–L    Date    Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Nov 2015 Carlsbad Classic, United States Hard   Yanina Wickmayer 3–6, 6–7(4)

Doubles: 1 (runner-up) edit

Result W–L    Date    Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Nov 2016 Hawaii Open, United States Hard   Asia Muhammad   Eri Hozumi
  Miyu Kato
7–6(3), 3–6, [8–10]

ITF Circuit finals edit

Singles: 18 (7 titles, 11 runner–ups) edit

Legend
$100,000 tournaments
$80,000 tournaments
$50/$60,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments
Finals by surface
Hard (6–8)
Clay (1–3)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Nov 2007 ITF Mexico City 10,000 Hard   María Fernanda Álvarez Terán 7–5, 6–3
Loss 1–1 Jun 2011 ITF Buffalo, United States 10,000 Clay   Lauren Davis 7–5, 2–6, 4–6
Win 2–1 Jul 2012 Colorado International, United States 50,000 Hard   Julie Coin 6–2, 3–6, 6–4
Loss 2–2 Feb 2013 Rancho Santa Fe Open, United States 25,000 Hard   Madison Brengle 1–6, 4–6
Win 3–2 Jul 2013 Yakima Challenger, United States 50,000 Hard   Ivana Lisjak 6–1, 6–4
Loss 3–3 Mar 2014 Innisbrook Open, United States 25,000 Clay   Grace Min 5–7, 0–6
Win 4–3 Jul 2014 Carson Challenger, United States 50,000 Hard   Melanie Oudin 6–4, 6–4
Loss 4–4 Jul 2014 Lexington Challenger, United States 50,000 Hard   Madison Brengle 3–6, 4–6
Loss 4–5 Oct 2015 Kirkland Challenger, United States 50,000 Hard   Mandy Minella 6–2, 5–7, 2–6
Loss 4–6 Nov 2015 Waco Showdown, United States 50,000 Hard   Viktorija Golubic 2–6, 1–6
Win 5–6 Jun 2017 ITF Baton Rouge, United States 25,000 Hard   Francesca Di Lorenzo 6–3, 6–3
Loss 5–7 Jul 2017 ITF Auburn, United States 25,000 Hard   Miharu Imanishi 3–6, 2–6
Win 6–7 Jun 2018 ITF Naples, United States 25,000 Clay   Ashley Kratzer 6–4, 6–4
Loss 6–8 Jul 2018 Berkeley Challenge, United States 60,000 Hard   Sofia Kenin 0–6, 4–6
Loss 6–9 Nov 2018 Las Vegas Open, United States 80,000 Hard   Belinda Bencic 5–7, 1–6
Win 7–9 Feb 2019 Rancho Santa Fe Open, United States 25,000 Hard   Kristie Ahn 6–3, 6–3
Loss 7–10 Apr 2019 ITF Palm Harbor, United States 80,000 Clay   Barbora Krejčíková 0–6, 1–6
Loss 7–11 Jul 2019 Championships of Honolulu, United States 60,000 Hard   Usue Maitane Arconada 0–6, 2–6

Doubles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner–ups) edit

Legend
$100,000 tournaments
$80,000 tournaments
$50/$60,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$15,000 tournaments
Finals by surface
Hard (4–1)
Clay (1–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 May 2010 Raleigh Challenger, United States 50,000 Clay   Kristie Ahn   Alexandra Mueller
  Ahsha Rolle
6–3, 6–2
Loss 1–1 Jul 2012 Colorado International, United States 50,000 Hard   Lauren Embree   Marie-Ève Pelletier
  Shelby Rogers
3–6, 6–3, [10–12]
Loss 1–2 Apr 2013 ITF Charlottesville, United States 50,000 Clay   Shelby Rogers   Nicola Slater
  CoCo Vandeweghe
3–6, 6–7(4)
Win 2–2 Oct 2015 Las Vegas Open, United States 50,000 Hard   Julia Boserup   Paula Cristina Gonçalves
  Sanaz Marand
6–3, 6–4
Win 3–2 Nov 2015 Waco Showdown, United States 50,000 Hard   Vania King   Julia Glushko
  Rebecca Peterson
6–4, 6–4
Win 4–2 Jul 2018 Berkeley Challenge, United States 60,000 Hard   Asia Muhammad   Ellen Perez
  Sabrina Santamaria
6–4, 6–1
Win 5–2 Nov 2018 Tyler Pro Challenge, United States 80,000 Hard   Asia Muhammad   Desirae Krawczyk
  Giuliana Olmos
3–6, 6–3, [14–12]

References edit

  1. ^ Athletics, Brian Risso/Stanford. "Stanford's Gibbs wins Honda Award for tennis". www.paloaltoonline.com. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  2. ^ "Nicole Gibbs, Stanford University". CWSA. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  3. ^ "Gibbs captures NCAA singles title". 27 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Radwanska upsets Hantuchova at Carlsbad". July 17, 2012.
  5. ^ "2023 Hall of Fame Class". Stanford Athletics. August 17, 2023.
  6. ^ "Serena Williams moves into Stanford Classic third round". July 12, 2012.
  7. ^ "SCiCi Bellis loses in three sets, but fellow American Nicole Gibbs tops No. 23 seed". Washington Post. August 28, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  8. ^ "Mylan WTT Players: 2016". World TeamTennis. Archived from the original on February 9, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  9. ^ "Aviators' Ryan Harrison and Breakers' Nicole Gibbs Named Mylan World TeamTennis MVPs Presented by Forevermark". World TeamTennis. August 18, 2016. Archived from the original on August 28, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  10. ^ "2016 League Leaders". World TeamTennis. Archived from the original on September 7, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  11. ^ "Nicole Gibbs on the dental visit that led to a cancer diagnosis and how it reaffirmed her love for tennis". espn.com. August 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  12. ^ "Tennis Pro Nicole Gibbs Is Back on the Court After Cancer Diagnosis". cancerhealth.com. 2 August 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  13. ^ "Nicole Gibbs announces her retirement from tennis at age of 27, as she plans to take up law". skysports.com. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  14. ^ "Nicole Gibbs announces retirement from tennis at age 27". apnews.com. Retrieved 16 February 2021.

External links edit